Ilibrary of congress.! 

I £ I 



i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



SHORT SERMONS 



CONSECRATION 



AND KINDRED THEMES, 



tlte dStosiet, ine Jivegide, anil tlxc ^ccfuve-^oom : 



/ 

By Rev. A. C. GEORGE, D. D., 

(Of tlie Central New York Conference.) 

AUTHOR OF " COUNSELS TO CONVERTS," 41 THE SATISFACTORY PORTION," ETO. 



NEW YORK: J 
NELSON &d PHILLIPS, 

CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 
1873. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

NELSON & PHILLIPS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



That these are not elaborate Sermons, but simply 
suggestions toward discourses bearing some relation 
to the great theme of Christian Co?isecration, any one 
can discover at a glance. 

That they are adapted to "The Closet/' for the 
inspiration of devotion, and to "The Fireside," for 
family reading, because brief, pointed, and of salu- 
tary influence, will, I trust, also be manifest. And 
as they were originally, in the main, prayer-meeting 
talks, they will, I hope, furnish some hints for " The 
Lecture-Room/' at least to my junior brethren in 
the ministry, which will be to them, and to many 
others through them, of great practical advantage. 

And so, with this single introductory word, I send 
them to the press ; praying that they may, with God's 
blessing, lead some earnest souls into a state of entire 
consecration and an experience of perfect love, and 
also that they may bring some who are in the igno- 
rance and bondage of sin to the knowledge and lib- 
erty of our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

Elmira, N. Y., Jan. ig, 1873. A. C. G. 



CONTENTS. 



Sermon Page 

I. Consecration : Its Nature and Obligation 7 

II. Consecration must be Complete 19 

III. Consecration a Constant Service 32 

IY. The Consecration of Self 45 

V. The Separating Power of the Divine Presence 54 

VI. Former Faith Called to Mind 63 

VII. Give the Choicest Things to Jesus 76 

VIII. Consecration of Money and Influence 81 

IX. Riches in Poverty 88 

X. The Inspiration of a Great Presence 96 

XL The Perfect Man 101 

XII. Purpose of Heart 108 

XIII. Salvation through God's Forbearance 113 

XIV. The Perfection of Beauty 118 

XV. Wells without Water 123 

XVI. The Mountain of Myrrh 130 

XVII. Help Only in God 137 

XVIII. The Joy of Our Lord 144 

XIX. The Lord's Peculiar Treasure 150 

XX. The Holy Hatred of God. 157 

XXI. A Drift, or a Voyage? 163 



6 CONTENTS. 

Sermon . Page 

XXII. The Holy Spirit the Gift of God 169 

XXIII. The Glory of the Gospel Dispensation 174 

XXIY. The Long Waiting for God 185 

XXY. The Privileges of the Sons of God 191 

XXYI. Christian Women, Gospel Helpers 196 

XXVII. The Child's Growth in Christian Character 207 

XXYIII. The Armed Suppliant 219 

XXIX. Life, Capital for Immortality 229 

XXX. " Strengthen the Things which Remain " 247 

XXXI. The Law of Christian Charity 263 

XXXII. The Sanctifying Truth 278 

XXXIII. The Eternity of Character 289 

XXXI Y. The Amaranthine Crown 296 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



I. 

CONSECRATION : ITS NATURE AND OBLI- 
GATION. 

"And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the 
Lord? " — 1 Chron. xxix, 5. 

Consecration, taken in a religious sense, is, accord- 
ing to Richard Watson, " A devoting or setting apart 
any thing to the worship or service of God." It is a 
demand, therefore, resting on the assumption that 
God has a right to our service, possessions, and love. 
And this demand we are expected to meet, however 
revolting it may be to our carnal natures, or however 
inconsistent with what appears to be our worldly 
interest. It is for this reason that consecration is 
described in the Scriptures as a sacrifice. Every in- 
junction of self-denial, mortification of the flesh, and 
renunciation of the world, imposes the duty of con- 
secration. And the work of faith, the experience of 
love, and the patience and perfection of hope, sup- 
pose that consecration has been performed, and is 
constantly and conscientiously maintained. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify 
unto me all the first-born." The word rendered 



8 ■ SHORT SERMONS ON CONSEGRA TIOX. 



sanctify "signifies," according to Dr. A. Clarke, " to 
consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person 
from all secular purposes to some religious use, and 
exactly answers to the import of the Greek hagiadzo, 
from a, privative, and ga, the earthy because every 
thing offered or consecrated to God was separated 
from all earthly uses. Hence a holy person or saint 
is termed hagios, that is, a person separated from the 
earth ; one who lives a holy life entirely devoted to 
the service of God." Accordingly, the father of the 
Israelitish household was required to explain these 
things to his children, and to say to them, " I sacrifice 
to the Lord/' even all " the first-born of man." These, 
of course, were not sacrificed in the sense of being 
slain upon the altar, but they were consecrated to the 
Lord, and deemed as absolutely devoted to sacred 
uses as if their flesh had been consumed in the sacri- 
ficial flames. And in regard to the firstling of the 
flocks and herds, the command was, " Thou shalt set 
apart," or, as the margin reads, " cause to pass over" 
" unto the Lord " all these for holy uses. And the rea- 
son assigned is, They are Mine. " Sanctify unto Me all 
the first-born." "Mine shall they be; I am the 
Lord." The original right of property which Jeho- 
vah has in all things, and in all souls, is made the 
ground of this obligation to consecrate unto him the 
firstling of the flock and the first-born male of the 
household, that is, the most cherished and endeared 
of our earthly possessions, in proof that we hold the 
whole in subjection to his will, and as stewards of his 
manifold gifts. " Then will I give him unto the Lord 
all the days of his life," is the form of consecration 
with which Hannah dedicated her child unto the 



CONSECRATION. 



9 



Almighty when " she was in bitterness of soul, and 
prayed unto the Lord and wept sore." In regard to 
temporal possessions, the Scripture affirmation is, 
"All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of 
the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord' s ; it 
is holy unto the Lord." And this dedication of 
the tithe to religious uses is an acknowledgment of 
God's right to all. The consecration of property to 
God is the doctrine it teaches. The followers of 
Jesus, in their character as Christians, are consecrated 
persons. " Christians in general," says Richard Wat- 
son, " are consecrated to the Lord, and are a holy 
race, a chosen people." Or, as St. Peter has ex- 
pressed it, " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal 
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye 
should show forth the praises, of Him who hath called 
you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 

Consecration, then, is an acknowledgment of God's 
supremacy — that all right of property and moral gov- 
ernment is in him, and that he is worthy of our best, 
purest, and noblest affections. It is a solemn devote- 
ment of ourselves, our possessions, our households, 
our affections, our honors, and whatever we most es- 
teem on earth, to our Lord and King. It is loyalty 
to God, in heart and life, at any expense, sacrifice, 
peril, or loss, for time and for eternity. It is the hon- 
est choice of Christ as our portion, with his cross, 
the contempt of the world, and the malice of hell, for 
the sake of the communion of his love, and the part- 
nership of his throne. It is self-denial in principle 
and in practice, under the inspiration of the loftiest 
sentiments of religion. It is the purpose to give up 
the right hand and pluck out the right eye, rather 



10 . SHORT SERMONS OJSf CONSECRATION 



than to displease God. It is that disposition which 
leads us to account all things loss for the excellency 
of Christ — which heeds the command, "Likewise 
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, 
but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
It is the solemn abjuration of all selfish objects and 
ends, that we may fulfill our course with joy, and 
reap an eternal reward. It is the divinely-begotten 
strength and heroism which enables us. to endure 
tribulation and persecution for Christ's sake, cheer- 
fully, with the conviction and assurance that because 
he hath overcome we also shall obtain grace to tri- 
umph, and glory to crown our immortal years. It is to 
come out from the world and be separate, and touch not 
the unclean thing. It is to " take pleasure in infirmi- 
ties, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in 
distresses, for Christ's sake." It is to yield the heart 
always to the influence of the grace of God, to be 
crucified with Jesus, and to live the life which we now 
live in the flesh with constant reference to the will 
of God. It is to seek not our own, but the things 
which are Jesus Christ's. It is to press on inces- 
santly, forgetting those things which are behind, for 
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
It is to set our affection on things above, not on things 
on the earth. It is to endure hardness as good sol- 
diers of our conquering Captain and Prince. It is to 
do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
thanks to God and the Father by him. It is to 
walk worthy of God, who has called us unto his 
kingdom and glory. It is to turn from all un- 
godliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this present world. It is 



CONSECRATION. 



1 1 



to labor constantly to enter into that rest which re- 
maineth to the people of God. It is to follow peace 
with all men and holiness, without which following 
after peace and holiness no man shall see the Lord. 
It is to rejoice in fiery trials, if thereby we are made 
partakers of the sufferings of Christ. It is to resist 
the devil, with sobriety, vigilance, and steadfastness, 
and to fly the corruption which is in the world through 
lust, as the only means of apprehending the exceed- 
ing great and precious promises, and becoming a par- 
taker of the Divine nature — the sum of all attain- 
ment. It is to give all diligence to obtain an abun- 
dant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. It is to 
account ourselves servants, stewards, and soldiers of 
Jesus Christ, and to act in the world as those who 
are his representatives — who have his work to do, his 
battles to fight, and his kingdom to maintain. 

Such is the nature of consecration to God. There 
is in it martyr heroism and sublimity. There is in it 
that which dignifies and ennobles the humblest and 
commonest life. It lifts us to a higher grade of being. 
It inspires us with a worthy object of pursuit. It 
enriches our natures, and aggrandizes our whole 
career on earth. O, to feel that we live not for our- 
selves, not for mere secular ends and objects, not for 
temporary expedients and perishable results, but for 
God, for his kingdom and glory, for our fellow-men 
and their highest good, for the grand and glorious 
issues of our immortal state — that is genuine nobility, 
kingly privilege, and everlasting honor ! Just be- 
cause consecration overcomes selfishness, lifts us 
out of the glare of worldly splendors, and makes us 
strong in purpose to resist evil, and to consummate 



12 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



in our experience all possibilities of virtue, does it 
bring to us abundant satisfaction. Did it require 
less, it would accomplish less in our behalf. We let 
go of the creature ; we devote ourselves to the Cre- 
ator. It is a relief to be able to let go of self; it is a 
mercy to be permitted to devote the life and heart to 
God. O for grace to nail our carnal natures to the 
cross, till the last quivering motion of the flesh shall 
cease ! O for power to devote body and soul, time, 
talents, friends, possessions, all things to Jesus, till 
he shall come and illumine our whole being with the 
light of his glorious presence ! 

Consecration, considered as a religious act, is an 
obligation. It is a duty which w T e owe to God and 
our fellow-men. It is not to be regarded as a matter 
of speculation or opinion, in respect to which men 
may innocently differ, both in theory and action, but 
as the essential demand of the irrepealable law of 
Jehovah. To withhold the sacrifice and offering 
which God requires at our hands is not merely a mis- 
take, a source of personal wretchedness, and a 
deprivation and wrong toward others : it is a sin. 
To the full measure of our capacity and resources, 
according to the best light we have or can obtain, 
we ow 7 e ourselves to do or to suffer, with all things 
appertaining to us, to our Lord and Master. 

It is a plain demand of justice. As God is our 
Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Friend, he has a right 
to our service and affection. And as none can equal 
him, or be to us what he has been, or sustain to us 
relations so high and holy as those which he sustains, 
or meet the necessities of our natures, with such in- 
finite provisions of mercy and love ; so none can ever 



CONSECRATION. 



13 



rightfully come between our souls and the Lord of 
life and glory. Our noblest powers, our purest affec- 
tions, our grandest possibilities, must be offered up 
to God. " For ye are bought with a price ; therefore 
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which 
are God's." 

" He justly claims us for his own, 

Who bought us with a price ; 
The Christian lives to Christ alone ; 

To Christ alone he dies." 

" I beseech you, therefore, brethren," importunes 
an apostle, "by the mercies of God, that ye present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God, which is your reasonable service." The lan- 
guage is sacrificial. As the bodies of beasts, slain 
for sin, were offered on an altar of sacrifice, so are we 
exhorted to present our bodies, that is, ourselves, the 
whole of us, the body including the soul, the com- 
plete victim, as an offering to God. " The body," 
says Bengel, " generally encumbers the soul ; present 
the body to God, and the soul will not be wanting." 
How can the body become a sacrifice ? Chrysostom 
answers : " Let the eye look on no evil, and it is a 
sacrifice. Let the tongue utter nothing base, and it 
is an offering. Let the hand work no sin, and it is a 
holocaust. But more, this suffices not ; but, besides, 
we must actively exert ourselves for good ; the hand 
giving alms, the mouth blessing them that curse us, 
the ear ever at leisure for listening to God." The 
mind must be employed in the service of Christ, 
all our objects in life must be conformed to the Di- 
vine will, and our hearts must be so transfused with 
heavenly grace as to throb constantly with desire for 
his presence and satisfaction in his love. , Though 



14 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for every good 
impulse, yet this work of consecration is emphatically 
a human achievement. God gives the grace ; it is for 
man to perform the act. " He himself," as Dr. Mer- 
rick has expressed it, " must bring the sacrifice and lay 
it upon the altar. God will have a voluntary service 
or none. This may be a difficult work. It always is. 
The will bends reluctantly ; self pleads persuasively ; 
unbelief suggests a thousand fears ; the great adver- 
sary, and all the influences which operate upon the 
soul in opposition to God, combine to prevent such a 
step. But it can be taken, and it must be taken. 
The will must yield, self must be denied, God 
must be trusted, the devil resisted, and the offering 
made." 

To consecrate ourselves to God is an obligation of 
gratitude. We are moved thereto by a consideration 
of the mercies of God. He hath not dealt with us 
according to our sins. He hath followed us with 
goodness and grace all our days. Life and health 
and reason, and the use of our senses, and the mem- 
bers of our bodies, friends, home, country — all these 
are arguments for consecration. But beyond all these, 
and above all, is the love of God in redemption — his 
mercy in Jesus Christ. " Herein is love ; not that 
we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son 
to be the propitiation for our sins." And the joyful 
sound of Gospel grace has reached our ears, and 
stirred our hearts. Does no obligation of gratitude 
rest upon us to consider ourselves the servants and 
followers of Jesus Christ ? 

" Every drop of my blood thanks you," said a crim- 
inal to Dr. Doddridge, when he had been released 



OONSECBATION. 



15 



from prison in consequence of the Doctor's kind 
interposition, " every drop of my blood thanks you ; 
for you have had mercy upon every drop of it. Where- 
ever you go, / will be yours!' Does not this apply 
to our case ? May not we take up this strain, and 
chant our gratitude to Jesus ? Have we not been 
brought forth, by the blood of the covenant, " out of 
the pit wherein is no water ? " Have we not been 
permitted, as prisoners of hope, to turn to the strong- 
hold for refuge, deliverance, and comfort ? Have not 
our prison-doors been opened, and have not our en- 
slaved souls found the liberty of the Gospel ? If we 
are this side of perdition, we have occasion for grati- 
tude to God ; and a sense of benefits received always 
moves a soul, not utterly debased, to attempt some 
return of service and affection. 

But how strong is the argument for consecration — 
constant and full — based upon the facts of Christian 
experience ! If one has known any thing of God, 
through the apprehensions of his own faith, how plain 
does duty seem in regard to this matter ! The con- 
sciousness of salvation, in any measure, shows the 
possibility and propriety of consecration to God. It 
is an incentive and an argument for the preserva- 
tion of covenant relations with the Great Head 
of the Church. And many a man can tell his 
experience in the triumphant language of Charles 
Wesley : 

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay, 

Fast bound in chains and nature's night; 

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray ; 

I woke — the dungeon flamed with light: 

My chains fell off, my heart was free ; 

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. 



1 6 SHORT SERMONS OX CONSECRATION. 



i: Xo condemnation now I dread ; 

Jesus, with all in him. is mine ; 
Alive in him. my living Head. 

And clothed in righteousness divine, 
Bold I approach the eternal throne, 
And claim the crown, through Christ, my own.'' 

And he who has broken our chains, illumined our 
darkness, delivered us from condemnation, and given 
us the right of access to the eternal throne, has a 
claim upon us, founded in justice and gratitude, for 
the constant service of our lives, and the fullest hom- 
age of our hearts. 

Consecration involves self-denial, and self-denial is 
the generic demand of the Gospel. 

In a brilliant essay on " Covetousness," by Rev. 
John Harris, it is contended that selfishness is the 
generic sin, the antagonist of the Gospel, the frus- 
tration of the divine plan, " the disease of the world," 
and " the prevailing malady of the Church." I add 
that self-denial is the generic demand of the Gospel, 
that it is in harmony with the divine plan, that it 
overcomes and destroys selfishness, and that it acts 
as an antidote to the malady and misery of a self- 
seeking world and a formal Church. Nothing hin- 
ders consecration when the mind is enlightened in 
regard to duty and privilege, but selfishness, in some 
one or more of its Protean forms ; and consecration, 
when consummated, involving as it does, self-denial, 
self-surrender, and complete self-devotement to God, 
counteracts selfishness, and leaves the mind open for 
the inflowing of the divine love in all its fullness, 
sweetness, and transforming power. Then the in- 
quiry arises, " Lord, what wilt thou have me do ? " 
and God becomes the spring of all our activities, 



CONSECRATION. 



17 



the fountain of all our inspirations, and the end of all 
our labors. 

"The very core of all religion," some one has said, 
"is not to live to ourselves but to God ; not to con- 
sider ourselves our own, but the property and servants 
of Jesus Christ ; not to feel as though we are set up 
in the world to work for ourselves, to spend the most 
of our time in promoting what is termed our innocent 
gratifications, but to hold our time, powers, influence, 
and property as talents intrusted to our care, to be 
used for Christ, keeping our eye on his lips to learn his 
will, and aiming habitually to please and honor him." 

" They that wait upon the Lord," saith the word 
of inspiration, " shall renew their strength ; they 
shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run 
and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint." 
To "wait upon the Lord" is to stand as a servant in 
his master's presence, watching for the motion of his 
hand or the movement of his lips, which shall indi- 
cate his will, ready to run at his bidding, prepared for 
any errand or labor w T hich he shall designate, willing 
also to see others sent on honorable messages, render- 
ing distinguished service, while he lingers and suffers, 
knowing that 

"They also serve, who only stand and wait". 

Such truly consecrated souls shall never faint, nor fail 
or flag through weariness ; but shall renew their 
strength day by day, till they can soar like the eagle, 
with his eye on the sun, above the clouds and storms 
and tempests of earth, into the pure cerulean of God. 

'•Who in the strength of Jesus trusts, 
Is more than conqueror." 



1 8 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



Faith and repentance are required in the Scriptures 
as conditions of acceptance and eternal life ; but conse- 
cration must precede the former, and is an element of 
the latter ; there is no salvation, therefore, without 
consecration. 

The soul which truly repents turns to God, or, 
in other words, becomes consecrated to his service ; 
this is the chief fact in repentance. That is genuine 
and sufficient penitence which leads a man to forsake 
his sins, abandon his selfish life, and devote himself 
to God ; while that is superficial and delusive, not- 
withstanding tears, emotions and agitations, which 
does not lead to such results of consecration and 
covenant engagement with Christ. Faith is not pos- 
sible while the soul is unconsecrated, while any gift 
is withheld from the altar, or while the heart shrinks 
from any sacrifice which the Gospel demands ; so 
that the one grand condition of acceptance with God 
cannot be met without consecration. 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 



19 



II. 

CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 

" Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, 
but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." — Rom. vi, LI. 

That we should be wholly devoted to God is plainly 
a demand of justice. Our obligation hath this extent. 
All the service and affection of which we are capable 
belongs to our supreme Head. A partial offering, 
therefore, will not satisfy the claims of the divine 
law. If I owe my friend money, service, honor, influ- 
ence, affection, will a part pay the whole ? Could I 
say to my father, for instance, in discharging a pecun- 
iary obligation which I might owe to him, " This meets 
all your demand upon me ? " Might he not retort, 
"Nay, my son, you owe me your life ; and the extent 
of your obligation can only be measured by your pos- 
sibility of service, honor, and love ? " And our heav- 
enly Father has the completest claim upon our time, 
talents, affections, devotions, sacrifices, and upon 
whatever capacities we may have for doing or suffer- 
ing what may be in accordance with his will and to 
the glory of his name. There is no pertinent reason 
why I should love or serve God at all, which is not 
equally conclusive to establish the position that I 
ought to love him with all my heart, and serve him 
with all my powers. Hence the justness and authority 
of the evangelical law : " Thou shalt love the Lord 



20 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind." God cannot require less than 
this on the principle of justice and .equity ; nor can 
man render less without wronging his own nature, 
and dwarfing and distorting the powers of his own 
soul. 

" I call heaven and earth to witness," says White- 
field, speaking of his ordination, "that when the 
bishop laid his hands upon me, I gave myself up to 
be a martyr -for Him who hung upon the cross for me. 
I have thrown myself blindfold, and, I trust, without 
reserve, into his almighty hands." And is this any 
thing more than the Gospel requires of every Chris- 
tian ? Is not the martyr-spirit a vital spirit in our ' 
holy religion ? Except a man come to Jesus, giving 
up all that he hath, how can he be his disciple ? " In 
recompense for the love you may show your country," 
said Garibaldi, addressing the young men of Italy, 
" I offer you hunger, thirst, cold, war, and death ; who 
accepts these terms let him follow me." And so 
Jesus saith : " Whosoever will be my disciple, let him 
deny himself, bear his cross, count all things loss for 
my sake, welcome privations and persecutions, defy 
the scorn and opposition of the world, turn from 
father, mother, wife, and children if they stand in the 
way of my service, lay down his life if need be, for 
my cause, and count it all joy if sacrifice, peril, and 
martyrdom bring him nearer the communion of my 
love ; who accepts these terms let him follow me." 
Ay, let him follow ! It is a pathway of fire, of fierce 
and terrible conflicts, of anguish and death ; but it 
is also the pathway of victory, of unfailing consola- 
tions, and of immortal renown. 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 21 

The will, the understanding, the affections, the 
whole being, must be dedicated to Christ. The world 
and the devil require as much as this in the service 
of sin — in the idolatry of fashion, honor, and ambition. 
Lady Fowell Buxton, in one of her charming letters, 
gives an account of a dinner at her husband's house, 
at which Baron Rothschild, the millionaire, was pres- 
ent. He sat at Lady Buxton's right hand, and his 
whole discourse was of money and money-making, 
and of the way in which he had trained his sons to 
preserve and expand his colossal fortune. Lady Bux- 
' ton expressed the hope that he did not allow them to 
forget that never-ending life so soon to begin, for 
which, also, preparation must be made. " O," replied 
he, "I could not allow them to think of such a thing. 
It would divert their minds from business. It would 
be fatal to their success. To get and keep a great 
fortune is a very difficult thing, and requires all ones 
time and thoughts!' 

Such is the demand which Mammon makes upon 
his worshipers ! Is it marvelous that entire conse- 
cration should be the requirement of the Gospel ? 
Men have made sacrifices scarcely less on the altars 
of patriotism for the unity and salvation of the re- 
public. They have given of their fortune ; they have 
sent their sons to the field of combat ; they have en- 
dured discomforts, losses, and bereavements ; they have 
sundered the most endearing of earthly relations, and 
they have been ready to sacrifice the last dollar and 
the last life for the national flag — for constitutional 
freedom. Indeed, every loyal heart in the land re- 
sponded to the noble sentiment of Secretary Seward, 
written in March, 1863: " He that preferreth him- 



22 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



self, his fame, his fortune, his friend, his father, his 
mother, his wife, his party, or his section, above his 
country, is not worthy to be a citizen of the best and 
noblest country that God has ever suffered to come 
into existence." 

Hear now the words of Jesus : " He that loveth 
father or mother more than me is not worthy of 
me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than 
me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his 
cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 
He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he that 
loseth his life for my sake shall find it." 

Could we regard the religion of Jesus as divine, if 
it did not require this utter self-surrender, and this 
complete sacrifice of every thing which we hold dear, 
in order to the enjoyment of the Saviours presence 
and love ? • 

How sublime a spectacle was that when Dr. 
Thomas Coke stood before the British Wesleyan 
Conference, pleading for a mission in India ! He 
had seen more than threescore years ; he had spent 
two large fortunes, preaching the Gospel ; he had 
crossed the ocean eighteen times on his mission of 
mercy ; he had been recognized as the first Bishop 
of the New World, but found not, as the historian of 
Methodism affirms, in a diocese co-extensive with a 
continent, room for his energies. Now his heart was 
turned toward India, and he pined, with a holy ambi- 
tion, to preach the Gospel to the millions of Asia. 
Ceylon, "the threshold before 1he gate of the East," 
was open to missionary labor, and Coke was deter- 
mined to go in spite of every obstacle. To a friend, 
who remonstrated with him on account of his age 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 23 



and the need of his services at home, he replied : " I 
am now dead to Europe and alive for India. God 
himself has said to me, Go to Ceylon ! / would 
rather be set naked on its coast, and without a friend, 
than not to go!' He presented himself before the 
conference with his project for a mission in India. 
The conference was startled and astonished. "Many 
rose to oppose" it. Benson declared "with vehe- 
mence " that it would compromise the honor of the 
denomination and " ruin Methodism." Coke returned 
to his lodgings with the tears flowing down his face, 
passed the night in an agony of prayer, and came back 
the next day to the conference-room to offer himself 
and thirty thousand dollars in money upon the altar 
of this great sacrifice. The conference relented, 
and yielded to what was manifestly the voice of Prov- 
idence. Coke did not live to reach his coveted field 
of missionary labor ; but his holy enthusiasm and sub- 
lime consecration still live, an inspiration to the 
Church in every -land. 

This spirit of entire consecration will lead us to 
conform all our plans and purposes to the manifest 
designs and purposes of the almighty Providence. 
Dr. Bushnell has a sermon entitled, u Every Man's 
Life a Plan of God." The fully-consecrated soul 
recognizes this truth. It constantly inquires for the 
divine mind. It seeks to realize in its history the 
divine ideal. It makes life a discovery, an unfolding 
of the gracious purposes of Jesus in redemption, 
providence, and grace. In the Church and in the 
world, in business and in society, in devotions and in 
relaxations, in health and in sickness, at home and 
abroad, for time and eternity, the aspiration of such 



24 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

a soul is to be conformed in word and act, in doing 
and suffering, to the mind and heart of the blessed 
Jesus. To fulfill God's highest ideals for life and im- 
mortality is its ceaseless ambition. Nothing is cov- 
eted but the will of God and the fullness of his love. 
" I desired neither life nor death," said the Methodist 
hero, Staniforth, when going into the battle of Fon- 
tenoy, " but was entirely happy in God." Every such 
soul can say to the Almighty Father : 

" To do or not to do, to have 
Or not to have, I leave with Thee ; 

To be Or not to be, I leave ; 
Thy only will be done in me : 

All ray requests are lost in one, 

Father, thy only will be done. 

Welcome alike the crown, the cross ; 

Trouble I cannot ask, nor peace, 
Nor toil, nor rest, nor gain, nor loss, 

Nor joy, nor grief, nor pain, nor ease, 
Nor life, nor death — but ever groan, 
Father, thy only will be done." ' 

"No selfish indulgence," says Dr. Merrick, "in 
dress, sleep, or any of the appetites injurious to 
health is compatible with entire consecration ; while 
health, and even life itself, must be cheerfully sacri- 
ficed at the command of God. He who, to preserve 
his health, shrinks from the discharge of known duty, 
or to save his life denies his Saviour, shows that he 
has not given up all to the Lord. . . . None may 
choose his own profession or calling regardless of 
God's will. What God appoints he must do. Where 
God directs there he must go. If called to the min- 
istry, he must 1 obey the voice divine.' If the prov- 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 2$ 



idence of God points him to some heathen land as 
his appropriate field of labor, thither he must direct 
his steps. His own ease, convenience, pecuniary in- 
terest, and aggrandizement, must yield to the claims 
of God. 1 For none of us liveth to himself, and no 
man dieth to himself' " 

Moreover, an entire consecration implies a cheerful 
submission to sufferings. 

We shrink instinctively from pain. Loss, suffering, 
and anguish of bodv and soul, break down and sub- 
due the bravest hearts. The trials of life will, in the 
end, quench the most fiery spirit, unreplenished by 
the grace of God. Most persons find, with Lady 
Maxwell, that it is much easier to do than to suffer 
the will of our heavenly Father. In doing, there is 
much to engage our attention, to excite the flow of 
the animal spirits, and to rouse all the powers of the 
mind for the successful accomplishment of our work. 
But there is no romance in suffering. It simply re- 
quires endurance. It calls for patience and resigna- 
tion to the divine will, and we are slow to discern the 
greatness of these passive virtues. And when clouds 
and darkness are round about us, when we are 
taken from the active duties of life to be laid away in 
a chamber of sickness, when our possessions are 
wasted and friends alienated, when we bow down in 
utter desolation over our dead, or stand by the open 
grave ready to swallow up our loved ones, it is so 
hard to see that we can serve and honor our Master 
in these things, or that the gracious purposes of his 
providence can be accomplished through such minis- 
trations of sorrow ! And yet one whole side of Chris- 
tian character, and a side of great beauty and power, 



26 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



has its development chiefly through the agency of 
afflictions and adversities. Consecration is sacrifice, 
and to be complete it must be submissive ; it must 
consent to whatever God appoints, and it must yield 
up the most precious things at his requirement. We 
must give ourselves into the hands of God, to do or to 
suffer as he may order. There was a device on an 
ancient medal, which has been adopted by a modern 
missionary society, that represents a bullock, standing 
between a plow and an altar, with this inscription, 
" Ready for either " — ready either to drag and swel- 
ter in the furrow, or to bleed on the altar of sacrifice. 
And this is precisely the posture of the truly conse- 
crated soul. He is ready for the divine will ; and 
though he may prefer to be an active laborer in the 
Lord's vineyard, yet if he is hindered or laid aside 
by sickness or afflictions he is cheerful in the midst 
of sufferings ; he rejoices amid flowing tears ; he 
praises God when his heart is torn, and he welcomes 
the cross and the thorns, while he hopes for the crown 
and the harp of praise. 

When Mrs. Sigourney, the American poetess, had 
lost her only son at the age of nineteen, in the depth 
of her anguish she said : " God's time and will are 
beautiful, and through blinding tears I would fain 
give him' praise." This is entire consecration in the 
furnace of affliction. And Dr. Stephen Olin has left 
on record the fact that it was through a discipline of 
suffering that he was brought into the enjoyment of 
the grace of Christian perfection. " I sunk into it," 
is his testimony. " My children, my wife, my health, 
my entire prospects on earth, all were gone — God 
only remained : I lost myself as it were in him ; I was 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 27 



hid with Him in Christ, and found, without any proc- 
ess of logic, but by an experimental demonstration, 
'the perfect love that casteth out fear/ " And every 
man who has obtained this great salvation has com- 
plied with this condition — he has accepted and sunk 
into the perfect will of God. He has prayed, with the 
Psalmist, " Lord, choose thou mine inheritance for 
me ; n he has exclaimed, with the suffering Son of 
God, " Not my will but thine be done." And he has 
not gone regretfully and murmuringly to the place of 
sacrifice, but he has learned to esteem it an honor 
and a pleasure to suffer for Christ. What a touching 
picture to the eyes of angels was that, when a devoted 
mother, as the receding ship bore away her only son to 
missionary labor in a heathen land, kneeled on the 
sands, and, with uplifted hands and streaming eyes, 
exclaimed : " O, Jesus, I do this for thee ! " And the 
time will come when we shall desire, more than all 
things on earth or in heaven, to be able to say to the 
Lord Jesus that Ave have done or suffered something 
for him. There will gather around the throne con- 
secrated souls who will say to the glorified Lamb : 
" Lord Jesus, I gave my fortune for thee ; I gave my 
home and friends for thee ; I was an exile from my 
fathers house for thee ; I was hunted to the mount- 
ains and to the caves of the earth for thee ; I passed 
weary years in vile and loathsome dungeons for 
thee ; I went joyfully to the scaffold and the flames 
for thee ! " And will not those be esteemed happiest 
who can present the longest and most thrilling 
record of cheerful suffering for Jesus ? And all the 
afflictions which come to us in the order of divine prov- 
idence may be borne cheerfully and heroically for 



28 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



Jesus' sake, and so as to be rewarded and honored in 
the everlasting kingdom. 

Under the appropriate caption, " Ready for Service 
or Sacrifice," a correspondent of the Detroit " Tri- 
bune " tells the following incident, as illustrative of 
the spirit of the brave men who fought the battles of 
freedom against treason and oppression : 

" A New Hampshire regiment had been engaged 
in several successive battles — very bloody and very 
desperate — and in each engagement had been dis- 
tinguishing themselves more and more ; but their 
successes had been very dearly bought, both in men 
and officers. Just before ' taps/ the word came 
that the fort they had been investing was to be 
stormed by daybreak next morning, and they were 
invited to lead the 'forlorn hope.' For a time the 
brain of the colonel fairly reeled with anxiety. The 
post of honor was the post of danger ; but, in view of 
all circumstances, would it be right, by the accept- 
ance of such a proposition, to involve his already deci- 
mated regiment in utter annihilation ? He called his 
long and well-tried chaplain into counsel with him, 
and asked him what was to be done ; and the chap- 
lain advised him to let the men decide it for them- 
selves. 

" At the colonels request, he stated to the regi- 
ment all the circumstances. Not one in twenty, 
probably, would be left after the first charge. Scarce- 
ly one of the entire number would escape death, 
except as they were wounded' or taken prisoners. 
No one would be compelled to go, if he did not go 
with all his heart. ' Think it over, men, calmly and 
deliberately, and come back at twelve o'clock, and let 



COXSECRATIOX MUST BE COMPLETE. 29 



us know your answer.' True to the appointed time, 
they all returned. 1 All ? ' said I. ' Yes, sir, all, with- 
out exception ; and all of them ready for service or 
for sacrifice.' ' Now,' said the chaplain, ' go to your 
tents, and write your letters ; settle all your worldly 
business, and whatever sins you have upon your con- 
sciences unconfessed and unforgiven, ask God to for- 
give them. As usual, I will go with you, and the 
Lord do with us as seemeth him good.' The hour 
came ; the assault was made ; on these noble spirits 
rushed into ' the imminent deadly breach,' right into 
the jaws of death. But, like Daniel when he was 
thrown into the lion's den, it pleased God that the 
lions' mouths should be shut. Scarcely an hour 
before the enemy had secretly evacuated the fort, and 
the ' forlorn hope ' entered into possession without 
the loss of a single man !" 

Rev. J. T. Gracey, who has rendered the Church 
effective service in her foreign fields, writing for the 
Northern CJiristian Advocate of the consecration and 
sacrifice manifested in this great missionary work 
by those who have confronted paganism with all its 
horrors in the name of Jesus, says : " We know of 
those who, for Christ's sake, have endured what no 
wealth nor fame would have tempted them to begin ; 
who have suffered unutterable things in the seas, and 
escaped only with their lives ; who, in their ordinary 
work, have traveled amid wolves, tigers, and other wild 
animals, continually compelled to realize, by the de- 
struction of others, the peril to which they themselves 
were exposed ; who have been beaten, bruised, and 
prepared for hanging ; who have preached, alternately 
keeping guard against suspected assassins in their 



30 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



audience ; who, when cartridge was dealt out to 
British soldiers because of an assured attempt at 
general massacre, quietly conducted their native 
worship with their native families, removed from all 
protection ; who persisted in preaching at large fairs 
when warned that they and theirs would be murdered 
the same night ; who tried to plant colonies of 
native Christians, and, rather than abandon their 
Masters work, remained amid fever and pestilence, 
exhibiting Christian fidelity and all graces, till the 
colony melted away by death, and they were dragged 
off more dead than alive, never after to recover from 
the ill effects to their constitutions. We know of 
women who have participated in all this, and who 
have traveled for as much as two days without any 
but the coarsest food, throughout roadless tracks, and 
sat them down all night, wet to the skin, by the 
banks of swollen streams. We know of such things as 
a father reading the burial service over members of 
his own family, among heathen desolation ; mothers 
seeing their offspring die in camp whole days' march 
away from medical means which might have readily 
recovered them ; parents' hearts wrung with intensest 
torture, as their children's lips dropped foulness never 
heard but in heathendom, and, who yet rather than 
abandon their posts, have sent their children half 
a world away from them, fainting as they said, 1 O 
Christ it is for thee, else would we die rather than 
do this, and but for thee we would die in doing it.' 
We know of missionaries who have buried their 
wives in darkness and storm, or seen them sicken 
and waste in a foreign clime, and then die almost in 
sight of the home-land. We know of — well we had 



CONSECRATION MUST BE COMPLETE. 3 1 

as well have done with it or write a volume of the in- 
cidents that flood our individual recollection, of what 
our missionary force has done and suffered, only for 
Christ, and because it seemed necessary to establish 
his kingdom in the ends of the earth." 

Let us make this entire consecration our steadfast 
aim. The very endeavor to be wholly the Lord's will 
enrich our Christian experience and intensify our 
spiritual life. And if we walk in the light we shall 
prove the sufficiency of the atoning blood to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness. Are we not persuaded 
that entire consecration is a plain demand of the 
Gospel? Can we, then, retain what grace we have, 
except we go on to perfection ? But if we let go of 
every thing for Christ, Christ will be to us a satisfac- 
tory and unfailing portion. 



32 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



III. 

CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 



"If any man serve me, him will my Father honor." -John xii, 26. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that consecration is 
a work which can be done or consummated at any 
given time. The obligation is constant and life-long. 
Every moment the covenant is to be renewed and 
ratified by a willing, obedient, and cheerful soul. 
There is, to be sure, a sense in which one can say, 

" 'Tis done — the great transaction's done ; 
I am nry Lord's, and he is mine : " 

but in what sense ? The young man who enlists as 
a soldier in the service of his country, or the maiden 
who stands at the hymeneal altar and plights her 
vows, may say, " The great transaction's done." And 
so it is ; but what significance has this act for all the 
future ? Henceforth the enrolled soldier must obey 
the orders of his captain, stand on perilous guard, 
make the weary march, or rush into " the imminent, 
deadly breach," just as he may be directed, without 
question and without hesitation ; yea, with cheerful- 
ness and enthusiasm. And this obligation will con- 
tinue during the whole period of his service, till he 
shall receive his " muster out," and retire upon his 
honors. The betrothed maiden must henceforth be 
dead to all other men ; must leave her fathers house, 



CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 



33 



and, perhaps, her girlhood friends and associates, and 
cleave unto her husband and his fortunes in pros- 
perity and adversity, through good report and evil 
report, till death disrupts the sacred relation into 
which she has solemnly entered. 

Thus it is with the Christian. He is consecrated 
to Christ as a soldier to his flag, as a wife to her hus- 
band. He has enlisted under the banner of the cross, 
and he must follow whithersoever that victorious 
banner leads him. He must not be ashamed of his 
colors — of Bethlehem's star rising in the east, of the 
descending dove, of the emblazoned cross, nor of the 
royal inscription, " Holiness unto the Lord." For 
that banner he must stand, march, fight, suffer, 
endure the loss of all things, and, if need be, die. 
He cannot permit it to be struck down for a single 
moment without treason to his Lord. No matter 
how long he has been in the ranks, he must not grow 
impatient for release. There are no furloughs in 
Christ's war, but the King of saints, in his own good 
time, grants a discharge and calls his faithful servant 
home. Or, in other words, the Christian is espoused 
to Jesus, and must be faithful to the end. There 
can be no dalliance with the world, no lusting after 
former lovers, no " aid and comfort" given to Christ's 
enemies, without essential dishonor, and damning 
sin. Every moment the consecrated soul must be 
ready to exclaim, " I am not my own : I belong to 
Jesus. I feel, purpose, speak, act, suffer for him. I 
have no life but in him. I am in the world, mingling 
with men, transacting the business of the world, but I 
am not of the world. The strong undercurrent of my 
being flows constantly toward God, and to magnify 



34 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



Jesus, whether by life or death, is the master-passion 

of my sou]." 

Certainly, if we are under obligation to be able to 
say this at any moment, then, also, at every moment ; 
if the grace of God is sufficient for this consumma- 
tion at any time, then, likewise, for every time/and to 
the end of time. " I am jealous over you," said Paul 
to his converts in Corinth, "with godly jealousy : for 
I have espoused you to one husband, that I may 
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear 
lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve 
through his subtilty, so your minds should be cor- 
rupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Sacred 
as love and sweet as heaven is this constant, loyal 
repose in the bosom of Jesus. And if we maintain 
our simplicity, " intent on one object most tender;' 
if we guard, cherish, and preserve the virgin purity 
of our perfect love — we shall not go after " another 
Jesus," nor shall we " receive another spirit ; " but 
we shall triumph over all the arts and devices of our 
great enemy, and keep ourselves constantly on the 
altar of sacrifice, and " in the love of God." Let us 
ever bear in mind, then, that our consecration must 
be life-long ; that we are perpetually under obligation 
to reckon' ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
unto God ; and that it is our privilege always to know 
that we are all the Lord's. 

Consecration must also be active. There is a kind 
of passive, quiescent, sentimental offering, which 
some souls seem to make of themselves to God. But 
the consecration which the Gospel contemplates is 
a consecration of service. It demands that time, 
talents, possessions, strength of body, brain, and 



CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 35 



heart, and all our capacities, of whatever character, shall 
be constantly used in the work of Jesus Christ. The 
Lord requires us to " serve him with a perfect heart 
and with a willing mind ; " and he hath delivered us 
" out of the hand of our enemies," that we " might 
serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness 
before him, all the days of our life." " If any man 
serve me," said Jesus, " him will my Father honor." 
It is plain, then, that an active consecration is de- 
manded. It is not enough to say, " I am the Lord's : " 
we must be the Lord's. It is not enough to say, " I 
give up my will : " the will must be engaged in record- 
ing decisions for Jesus. " My property," says one, 
"is on the altar ; " and it would seem that it remains 
there ; for it is not employed in building churches, 
sustaining missions, multiplying means of usefulness, 
or in ministering to the necessities of saints. 

If we consecrate body and soul to Christ, it is that 
body and soul may be used, as Christ used his body 
and soul, in works of love and beneficence. If we 
behold him instructing the ignorant, healing the sick, 
comforting the despondent, relieving the wretched, 
counting it more than his meat and drink, more than 
all earthly advantage, to do the will of his Father, and 
yearning even for the baptism with which he was to 
be baptized — the baptism of tears and sweat and 
blood, in the garden and on the cross, that he might 
accomplish the world's redemption — then we shall 
discover the class of labors to which we are called as 
the servants of Jesus, consecrated to his will and 
work, and coveting, above all things, the advance- 
ment of his kingdom and the revelation of his power. 
Did Jesus leave behind him the glory which he had 



36 8H0BT SERMONS OjST CONSECBA TIOK 



with the Father before the world was, and suffer and 
die a malefactor's death — a sacrifice and oblation for 
a guilty, thankless race — that he might save souls 
from guilt and ruin ; and shall we, if consecrated tc 
his service, refrain from manifold labors, or shrink 
from heavy crosses, or fail in any effort, expenditure, 
or endurance, which may be necessary to bring these 
same redeemed souls to the knowledge of sins forgiven, 
or to the higher life of holiness and heaven ? The con- 
secration of Jesus was positive and practical. Is it not 
enough for the disciple to be as his Master ? Since 
he left heaven itself for the work of redemption, is it 
too much for us to leave the heaven of our closets 
and our contemplations, and go into the vineyard, 
and work with him for the restoration of paradise 
to man ? 

There seem to be many persons who have obtained 
the grace, but who do not apprehend the process of en- 
tire consecration. To be wholly dedicated to Christ is 
manifestly their desire, but they do not discern how 
they may reach the coveted consummation. They 
have often endeavored to consecrate themselves 
wholly to God, but they have no such evidence of 
success, no such witness of acceptance, and no such 
realizations of experience as they had anticipated. 
The offering lacks something, the fire does not fall 
from heaven, and their hearts are still restless and 
troubled. The process of consecration is not under- 
stood. It appears to be a quite common opinion that 
the work can be done by one wholesale act. This is 
an error which has hindered and stumbled thousands. 
We may begin the consecration instantly, and we 
ought to do so the moment Christ's claim is recog- 



CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 37 



nized, and to the very extent of the Gospel demand, 
and the whole process need not occupy any consider- 
able length of time ; but there must be distinct men- 
tal acts, and detailed and considerate sacrifice and 
oblation, in order to fullness and completion. Our 
all, however little, embraces many particulars, and it 
is our all which we purpose offering up to God. How 
much this includes we cannot know without detailed 
examination. It is like attempting a conception of 
distance or numbers ; it cannot be done at once, but 
only by a gradual, step-by-step process. You think, 
for instance, of the distance from Xew York to Liv- 
erpool, and your mind passes from one point to 
the other in a flash, but you have a very imperfect 
conception of the intervening space. If, however, 
you have ever crossed the ocean, you will go back in 
your thoughts, and traverse the whole distance, num- 
bering the days and nights of your voyage, recalling 
the various incidents which took place, the sunshine 
and storm, the health and sickness, the ships spoken, 
the friendships formed, the messages exchanged, the 
longing for the shore, the joy of arrival, and so by a 
prolonged consideration of incidents and details you 
will form something like an adequate conception of 
the width of waters separating continents. So of 
numbers. You attempt to think of a million of men, 
but there is not room in your mind for such a host. 
You must think of them in detail. They must pass 
in review before your mind. You must see the 
divisions, brigades, regiments ; the long line of march, 
the extent of country covered, the time occupied in 
passing a given point ; and so, at length, your mind 
takes in the stupendous whole. 



38 SHORT SERMON'S 02sT COWSEGRATION. 



These illustrations may help us to apprehend the 
necessity of detailed and deliberate consecration. It 
cannot otherwise be complete. The mind must be 
directed to every specific thing, and every part, of 
which the whole is composed, must be laid on the 
altar of sacrifice. We must, to speak commercially, 
make a complete inventory of our possessions, and 
on every item of person and property must be 
written in unmistakable characters, This is the 
Lord's. 

Take the following historical illustration. When 
the people of Collatia surrendered to the power of 
Rome, they were asked, "Do you surrender all? " 
and they said, " Yes." But the answer was not sat- 
isfactory, and the question was presented in detail, 
thus: "Do you deliver up yourselves, the Collatine 
people, your city, your fields, your waters, your bounds, 
your temples, your utensils, all things that are yours, 
into the hands of the people of Rome ? " and on their 
replying, "We deliver up all," they were received. 
The presumption was that they might shrink from 
the surrender required upon a full and detailed pre- 
sentation of the case. 

It was needful that they should distinctly under- 
stand how much was included in the act. So, in 
regard to the demand which the Holy Spirit makes 
for service and sacrifice in the kingdom and patience 
of Jesus. " Do you surrender all to Christ ? " " Yes." 
The answer is honest, but it may not be intelligent, 
comprehensive, sufficient. " Do you surrender your- 
self, your body, mind, soul, time, talents, influence, 
acquirements, possessions, household, honors, expecta- 
tions, all things that are yours, to be the property of 



CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 39 



Christ, to do or suffer, to labor or sacrifice, for his 
kingdom and glory henceforth and forever ? " If on 
the most minute, particular, and exhaustive presenta- 
tion of what is required, the soul can still say, 
" Blessed Jesus, I am in thy hands ; I woidd be 110- 
zvFiere else ; I am thine, fully and forever" then the 
sacrifice is complete, and faith will soon bring the 
crowning grace of salvation — the baptismal fire from 
heaven. 

This detailed and entire consecration does not sup- 
pose that all these things, presented on the divine 
altar, should absolutely pass out of our hands, but 
only that we acknowledge the fullness of the divine 
claim, and cheerfully acquiesce in the divine orderings 
in respect to ourselves, and in respect to all things 
appertaining or belonging to us. It may be the will 
of God that we should continue to employ our wealth 
in business, making money for him ; and it certainly 
is his will that we continue to cherish our homes, 
maintaining in all purity our domestic relations, but 
making those homes his sanctuary, recognizing wife 
and child as his gift, and constantly presenting to him, 
as a sweet offering and incense, our purest affections. 

Wesley has furnished us " a method of expression " 
for this specific and all-including consecration in one 
of his " Forms of Prayer," as follows : 

" To thee, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
my Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, I give up my- 
self entirely ; may I no longer serve myself, but thee, 
all the days of my life. 

" I give thee my understanding ; may it be my 
only care to know thee, thy perfections, thy works, and 
thy will. Let all things else be as dung and dross 



40 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



unto me for the excellency of this knowledge. And 
let me silence all reasonings against whatsoever 
thou teachest me, who canst neither deceive nor be 
deceived. 

" I give thee my will ; may I have no will of my 
own ; whatsoever thou wiliest may I will, and that 
only. May I will thy glory in all things, as thou 
dost, and make that my end in every thing ; may I 
ever say with the Psalmist, ' Whom have I in heaven 
but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire 
beside thee.' May I delight to do thy will, O God, 
and rejoice to suffer it ; whatever threatens me, let 
me say, ' It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him 
good ; 9 and whatever befalls me, let me give thanks, 
since it is thy will concerning me. 

" I give thee my affections ; do thou dispose of 
them all ; be thou my love, my fear,, my joy ; and may 
nothing have any share in them, but with respect to 
thee and for thy sake. What thou lovest, may I love ; 
what thou hatest, may I hate ; and that in such meas- 
ure as thou art pleased to prescribe me. 

" I give thee my body ; may I glorify thee with it 
and preserve it holy, fit for thee, O God, to dwell in. 
May I neither indulge it, nor use too much rigor to- 
ward it ; but keep it, as far as in me lies, healthy, 
vigorous, and active, and fit to do thee all manner of 
service which thou shalt call for. 

" I give thee all my worldly goods ; may I prize 
them and use them only for thee ; may I faithfully 
restore to thee, in the poor, all thou hast intrusted 
me with, above the necessaries of life ; and be content 
to part with them too whenever thou, my Lord, shalt 
require them at my hands. 



CONSECRATION A CONSTANT SERVICE. 41 



" I give thee my credit and reputation ; may I 
never value it, but only in respect of thee ; nor en- 
deavor to maintain it, but it may do thee service and 
advance thy honor in the world. 

" I give thee myself and my all ; let me look upon 
myself to be nothing, and to have nothing out of 
thee. Be thou the sole disposer and governor of 
myself and my all ; be thou my portion and my all." 

This is a particular and comprehensive consecra- 
tion, embracing the understanding, will, and affec- 
tions ; the body, worldly goods, reputation, and all, 
without any reserve or limitation whatever. Happy 
is he who can, in sincerity and truth, offer this prayer 
to God. 

James Brainard Taylor, speaking of the time when 
God fully sanctified his soul, says : 

" At this very juncture I was most delightfully 
conscious of giving up all to God. I was enabled in 
my heart to say, ' Here, Lord, take me, take my whole 
soul, and seal me thine, thine now, thine forever.' I 
have had keener sorrows for indwelling sin," he adds, 
" than I ever experienced before conversion. O the 
distress which I have felt on account of pride, envy, 
love of the world, and other evil passions which have 
risen up and disturbed my peace and separated be- 
tween God and my soul ! I felt that I needed some- 
thing which I did not possess. There was a void 
within which must be filled or I could not be happy. 
My earnest desire then was, as it has been ever 
since I professed religion six years before, that all 
love of the world might be destroyed, all selfishness 
extirpated, pride banished, unbelief removed, all 
idols dethroned, every thing hostile to holiness and 



42 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



opposed to the divine will, crucified ; that Holiness to 
the Lord might be engraven upon my heart, and ever- 
more characterize my conversation." 

The consecration which President Jonathan Ed- 
wards made of himself to God he has ' stated in 
these words : 

" I have been before God, and have given myself, 
all that I am and have, to God, so that I am not in 
any respect my own ; I can challenge no right in 
myself ; I can challenge no right in this understand- 
ing, this will, these affections that are in me ; neither 
have I any right to this body or any of its members ; 
no right to this tongue, these hands, nor feet ; no 
right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this 
smell or taste. I have given myself clear away, and 
have not retained any thing as my own. I have been 
to God this morning, and told him that I give my- 
self wholly to him. I have given every power to 
him, so that for the future I will challenge no risrht 
in myself in any respect. I have expressly promised 
him, and do now promise Almighty God, that by 
his grace I will not. I have this morning told him 
that I did take him for my whole portion and felicity, 
looking on nothing else as any part of my happiness, 
nor acting as if it were ; and his law for the constant 
rule of my obedience ; and would fight with all my 
might against the world, the flesh, and the devil, to 
the end of my life : that I did believe in Jesus 
Christ, and receive him as a Prince and a Saviour, 
and would adhere to the faith and obedience of the 
Gospel, how hazardous and difficult soever the pro- 
fession and practice of it may be : that I did receive 
the blessed Spirit as my teacher, sanctifier, and only 



CONSECRA TIVN A CONS TANT SEE VICE. 4 3 



Comforter, and cherish all his motions to enlighten, 
purify, confirm, comfort, and assist me. This I have 
done. And T pray God, for the sake of Christ, to 
look upon it as a self-dedication, and to receive me as 
entirely his own, and deal with me in all respects as 
such, whether he 'afflicts me, or whatever he pleases 
to do with me, who am his. 

" Now henceforth I am not to act in any respect 
as my own. I shall act as my own if I ever make 
use of any of my powers to do any thing that is not 
to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying ■ 
him my whole and entire business ; if I murmur in 
the least at afflictions ; if I grieve at the prosperity 
of others ; if I am in any way uncharitable ; if I am 
angry because of injuries ; if I revenge ; if I do any 
thing purely to please myself, or if I avoid any thing 
for the sake of ease ; if I omit any thing because it 
is a great self-denial ; if I trust to myself ; if I take 
any of the praise of any good that I do, or rather 
which God does by me ; or if I am any way proud." 

Mark the minuteness, particularity, and complete- 
ness of this consecration. Wesley and Edwards 
widely differed in their theological views, but how 
certainly did their hearts throb in holy unison ! And 
how marvelously does the prayer we have quoted 
from the former correspond to the experience which 
we here cite from the latter. Thus are all saints, by 
consecration and experience of divine love, one in 
Christ Jesus : 

" Dear Lord, only thee I 

Only thee, I pray ; 
Fill my heart with only thee 

Till I pass away. 



44 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



Many do I love, 

And many do love me, 
But thou — thou ail above — 

s Thou knowest I love thee.' 

" Dear Lord, be thou my guide ; 

I give my hand to thee ! 
By day and night, through time and tide, 

I know thou wilt keep me. 
The fairest love is mine 

Which in this world may be; 
Dear Lord, let ever mine be thine ; 

1 Thou knowest I love thee I ' " 

Jesus has taught us, in the twenty-fifth chapter of 
Matthew, that beneficent activity will be the standard 
of judgment in the last great day. The faith and 
holiness, if such there be, which do not lead to serv- 
ice and sacrifice, are of no value. In other words, 
the power of the Gospel is proved by the service ren- 
dered to man in the name of Christ. 

And even in that world in which there is no more 
curse ; in which grows the tree whose leaves are for 
the healing of the nations ; in which flows " a pure 
river of water of life, clear as crystal ; " in which the 
throne of God and the Lamb pale the light of the 
sun, and make everlasting day — in that world, u His 
servants shall serve him ; and they shall see his face, 
and his name shall be in their foreheads." 



THE GONSECBATION OF SELF. 



45 



IT. 

THE CONSECRATION OF SELF. 

t{ And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves 
to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." — 2 Cor viii, 5. 

The apostle celebrates the liberality of the Churches 
in [Macedonia. Such was the greatness of their 
poverty and the abundance of their afflictions that 
he had not anticipated from them any very consider- 
able offerings. But the grace of God moved them to 
a free, earnest, generous contribution for the poor 
saints in Judea. "And," adds the apostle, "not as 
we hoped or, rather, " not as we expected;" that 
is, they w T ent entirely beyond our expectations. And 
the reason of it was found in the underlying principle. 
They first gave themselves to the Lord, and then 
unto us, as the apostles and ministers of Christ, the 
agents and representatives of his cause by the will of 
God ; that is, as the will of God indicated their duty 
and the extent of the offering which they ought to 
make. 

I do not propose, to-day, to discuss Christian liber- 
ality ; but rather its principle, its root. "The giving 
themselves means here," says Olshausen, " the bestow- 
ing everything, and retaining nothing for themselves." 
Bloomfield says, " Giving themselves to the Lord is a 
strong expression to denote the devoting themselves 



46 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

and whatsoever they possessed to his service.'' Barnes' 
note is, " They first made an entire consecration of 
themselves and all that they had to the Lord. They 
kept nothing back. They felt that all they had was 
his. And where a people honestly and truly devote 
themselves to God, they will have no difficulty in 
having the means to contribute to the cause of 
charity." 

This, then, is the theme : The root consecration is 
the consecration of self. What God requires is not 
gifts, services, sacrifices, but our own selves. 

Now, we are ready to do any thing rather than give 
up self. Men will submit to the most exacting ritual- 
ism ; will make the richest charitable offerings ; will 
walk according to the straightest moral code, pro- 
vided only that the denial of self is not required. 
But the indispensable condition of Christ's service is 
to deny self ; that is, not merely to practice self-denial 
in some things, or in many things ; but, as some one 
has expressed it, to deny self itself; or, in other 
words, to give ourselves to God. 

What, then, is it to give one's self to God ? What 
is self-hood ? What is essential to our own proper, 
personal life ? What is there which belongs to us, 
which, I may say, constitutes us, which we can give 
to God ? 

" Moral good," says M'Cosh, "lies in the region of 
the will. ... It is the region, and the exclusive region 
of moral good. It is in voluntary acts that the con- 
science discerns a moral quality, and it is upon such 
acts, and no others, that it pronounces its decisions." 
Again he says, " It is from the exercise of will that 
we get our very idea of freedom. ... It is in the 



THE CONSECRATION OF SELF. 



47 



sanctuary of the will that freedom alone is to be 
found." To surrender one's free, conscious self to 
Christ, then, is to give up absolutely one's will to 
Christ, and to take Christ's will for the government 
of our hearts and lives. 

I say of our hearts, for the will controls the affec- 
tions. u Give me thy heart," is the divine command ; 
and that which we can give or withhold is subject 
to the control of the will. " Because," saith the Lord, 
by the Psalmist, " he hath set his love upon me, there- 
fore will I deliver him." " Set your affection on things 
above, not on things of the earth." The margin 
reads, " Mind ; " set your mind on things above. The 
Greek word means to think, discern, judge, conclude, 
and then, by implication, to approve, esteem, covet, 
delight in. 

This order of meaning shows conclusively the con- 
trol which the will has over the affections. And with 
this accords the common-sense judgment of mankind ; 
for we hold men responsible for low tastes, corrupt 
affections, and groveling dispositions. 

We must also take Christ's will for the government 
of our lives ; for the regulation of our conduct is with- 
in the scope of our own free agency. And this ex- 
tends not only to moral action, or to those things 
which relate to duty, but to our order of life, our 
business pursuits, the government of our households, 
the disposition of our time, the use we make of our 
talents and possessions, and, in a word, to all our 
possibilities. 

Scripture illustrations of this law of self-sacrifice 
abound. We are represented as servants ; and the 
servant is not to do his own will, but the will of his 



48 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



master. He is to study the pleasure, interest, and 
purposes of his employer or lord. 

We are exhorted to endure hardships as good 
soldiers of Jesus Christ ; and if we are soldiers, we 
must obey the orders of the great Captain of our sal- 
vation. We must march, stand on the weary senti- 
nel guard, or storm the imminent deadly breach, just 
as we are directed, without the least consideration of 
our own wishes or feelings in the matter. To raise 
the question as to what would be in accordance with 
our personal views or relishes would be an imperti- 
nence akin to treason. 

And now what motives can I present to you, to 
labor and aspire for this sublime life of self-sacrifice 
and utter devotion to God ? 

i. Christ gave himself for this world. He was rich 
in all heavenly possessions ; but for our sakes he be- 
came poor. He took on him the form of a servant. 
He submitted to the cross. He was obedient to 
death. Suppose he had given of the immense riches 
of his universe, as some wealthy Christians give 
a small fraction of their gold and silver, and then 
plume themselves on their devotion to Christ's cause ; 
w r ould that have won the heart of the world ? Sup- 
pose he had sent some bright and gifted angel, as we 
send others to represent us in perilous and distasteful 
missionary fields, and then pride ourselves on our 
liberality ; would that have sufficed for human redemp- 
tion ? " Do not call yourselves Lutherans," said the 
great Reformer to his followers ; " call yourselves 
Christians. Who and what is Luther? Has Luther 
been crucified for the world ? " 

Now it is just because Jesus was crucified for the 



THE CONSECRATION OF SELF. 



49 



world that he is able "to draw all men unto him. And 
if you would know what it is, precisely and unmis- 
takably, to give yourself to God, think of Christ in 
the garden of Gethsemane, praying, " O my Father, 
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," but add- 
ing as in his agony he sweat great drops of blood, 
falling down to the ground, " Nevertheless, not as I 
will, but as thou wilt." Early in his career he asked, 
"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness ? " and this question was the key-note to his 
whole life and ministry. Consecrated Christians 
are like Christ in the world ; they are about their 
Father's business. 

2. Nothing so much as self-sacrifice dignifies and 
ennobles human nature. 

Our poor humanity is never , lifted up so high as 
when it reaches the altitude of self-forgetfulness. 
The men whom we honor have not lived selfish but 
consecrated lives ; honest laborers, who have toiled to 
give sustenance and comfort to wives and children 
and aged parents ; colonists, like those who came 
over in the Mayflower, carrying the fortunes of a con- 
tinent in their storm-tossed ship, and who said of 
themselves in the midst of their hardships and suffer- 
ings, " It is not with us as with men whom small 
things can discourage ; " patriot soldiers, who have 
given their lives for the liberties of men ; or brave 
martyrs, who have gone to the stake or the scaffold 
in honor of their religion, singing all the while triumph- 
al hymns. 

" That," says Froude, " which especially distin- 
guishes a high order of man from a low order of man 

— that which constitutes human goodness, human 

4 



50 SHORT SERMOXS 03 CONSECRATIOX. 



greatness, human nobleness — is surely not the degree 
of enlightenment with which men pursue their own ad- 
vantage, but it is self-forgetfulness ; it is self-sacri- 
fice ; it is the disregard of personal pleasure, personal 
indulgence, personal advantages, remote or present ; 
because some other line of conduct is more right." 

3. This high devotion of body, soul and all to 
Christ, beyond any thing else, demonstrates Chris- 
tianity to the world. It is evidence which cannot be 
turned aside, which confronts the popular gaze, and 
which is within the grasp of the commonest appre- 
hension. 

Referring to Mr. Buckle, Goldwin Smith says : 
" He will scarcely deny that the ethical doctrine of 
self-sacrifice is a peculiarly, if not an exclusively, 
Christian doctrine, and that it was Christianity that 
first effectively filled society with this aspiration." 
And that religion which demands and creates an un- 
selfish devotion, and which enables men to sacrifice 
every thing else rather than the truth of God, which 
subdues passion and overcomes even the love of life, 
so as to make possible the lofty heroism of martyr- 
dom, must be divine in its origin, and pregnant 
with blessings of inestimable value for the human 
race. 

4. It is the way to usefulness, and usefulness is the 
chief thing in this world. How much God can make 
of a man can never be known till he is wholly given 
up to God. "The eyes of the Lord," it is said, "run 
to and fro throughout the earth, to show himself 
strong in the behalf of them w T hose heart is perfect 
toward him." That is the perfect heart which is 
wholly turned unto the Lord, and completely filled 



THE CONSECRATION OF SELF. 



with his presence and love. The eyes of the Lord 
run to and -fro for such souls, and in their behalf he 
stands strong — strong as only God can stand. 

" I have concluded/' said one, " that the best thing 
I can do is to let Christ have his own way with me." 
That is it exactly. Let Christ take you, my hearer, 
with all your powers and purposes and possessions, to 
do the most he can with you, and he will make 
your life a grand opportunity, the seed-time of a gold- 
en harvest, the warp and woof of a resplendent im- 
mortality. 

5. This life of consecration will be a life of rug- 
ged sacrifice, it may be, of privation, of tears ; and 
yet it will be an exalted, ennobling, and satisfactory 
portion. 

Froude, speaking of England's forgotten worthies, 
" indomitable, God-fearing men, whose life was one 
great liturgy," says : " Life with them was no sum- 
mer holiday, but a holy sacrifice offered up to duty, 
and what their Master sent was welcome. Beautiful 
is old age ; beautiful is the slow-dropping, mellow 
autumn of a rich, glorious summer. In the old man 
nature has fulfilled her work ; she loads him with her 
blessings, she fills him with the fruit of a well-spent 
life, and, surrounded by his children, and his children's 
children, she rocks him softly away to a grave, to 
which he Is followed with blessings. God forbid we 
should not call it beautiful. It is beautiful, but not 
the most beautiful. There is another life, hard, 
rough, and thorny, trodden with bleeding feet and 
aching brow — the life of which the cross is a symbol, 
a battle which no peace follows this side of the grave, 
which the grave gapes to finish before the victory is 



52 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

won, and, strange that it should be so, this is the high- 
est life of man." 

Such a life was that of John Wesley. Walking 
over the grounds of an English nobleman, he ex- 
claimed, " I also have a relish for these things, but 
there is another world ; " and, under the inspiration of 
that grand thought, he went on his way to confront 
opposition, encounter mobs, and experience hardships 
of every kind, expecting to fight the battle out and 
seize at last the fadeless crown. 

6. Finally, this is a practicable thing ; you can 
give yourself to Christ. You may not have a fortune 
to lay on his altar, but you have what is of infinitely 
more value in his eyes, a will and a heart. In the 
domain of your own soul you are supreme, and here 
you may invite Christ's reign. You may not have 
great talents or high culture to employ in the Lord's 
service, but Christ will accept you just as you are, 
and little as you are, and put you to honorable use in 
his service. 

And the greatest gift is the gift of yourself. If 
you had an empire to lay at the Lord's feet, it would 
not be so much as the offering of yourself. Men 
gave their wealth, their honors, their party prospects, 
their high places in the nation, to the country in 
the hour of its need ; but did any of these give so 
much as the humblest soldier in the ranks, who gave 
himself ? 

And this consecration to Christ disposes of all 
other questions which might be perplexing or embar- 
rassing. These Macedonian Christians, says the 
Apostle, " first gave their ownselves to the Lord and 
unto us by the will of God." They saw plainly the 



THE CONSECRATION OF SELF. 



S3 



path of duty in the light of their great consecration. 
He who gives himself wholly to God escapes all ques- 
tions of casuistry and all difficulties in regard to the 
measure of his obligations. In his business, house- 
hold, political relations, every-where, he is Jesus 
Christ's man, and that shows him at once what he 
ought to do, and what he ought not to do. He does 
not seek to please himself, or men, but Christ. 
And Christ, my brethren, is easier to follow than 
either ourselves or the world. The most practicable, 
successful, honorable and satisfactory life is the 
Christian life. 

And to live thus for the Lord is to be owned by the 
Lord, to be kept by him, to have his care, guidance, 
protection, and blessing. And the Lord will acknowl- 
edge his own when the world is on fire, will approve 
them in the presence of an assembled universe, and 
will exalt them to share his kingdom and throne — 
his presence and glory — forever. 



54 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



V. 

THE SEPARATING POWER OE THE DIVINE 
PRESENCE. 

" For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have 
found grace in thy sight ? Is it not in that thou goest with us ? So 
shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are 
upon the face of the earth." — Exod. xxxiii, 16. 

The Jewish people were the peculiar people of God. 
They were distinguished in many ways from the sur- 
rounding nations. The chief fact, however, in their 
history was the unusual, transcendent and glorious 
manner in which Jehovah manifested himself to them 
as their God, Guide, and Portion. The nations round 
about, as Moses affirmed, had heard that the Lord 
was among his people, that he was seen by them face 
to face, that the cloud stood over and went before 
them which enshrined the divine presence, and that 
he had promised to bring them through the wilder- 
ness into a land which they should possess for an 
inheritance forever. 

In like manner, the spiritual Israel is "a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pecul- 
iar people," who have been called out of darkness 
into the marvelous light of God. 

In the verses preceding the text, Moses remon- 
strates against going up into the promised land at 
the head of the host which he had led out of Egypt, 



SEP ABA TING PO WEE OF DIVINE PRESENCE. 5 5 

except he could be assured of the divine presence, 
and the text may be considered the argumentative 
part of that remonstrance : " For wherein shall it be 
known here that I and thy people have found grace 
in thy sight ? Is it not in that thou goest with us ? 
So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all 
the people that are upon the face of the earth." The 
argument is, " If thou goest with us, we shall be sep- 
arated from the heathen nations, and they will know 
that we have found grace in thy sight." The theme 
of our discourse, therefore, is, The Separating Power 
of the Divine Presence. 

That the Church of God is to be separated from 
the world, and is to be no more of the world than 
was its divine Master, is a plain doctrine of the in- 
spired word, and is in accordance with the general 
religious convictions of men. The only question 
relates to the cause and manner of the separation. 
What separates ? What distinguishes the followers 
of Jesus from other men ? What makes God's peo- 
ple a peculiar people ? How do they most effectually 
show forth the divine praises ? These are questions 
of great practical importance. Let us consider them. 

i. Nothing merely external sufficiently marks the 
line of distinction between God's people and the peo- 
ple of this world. Christians are not separated, in 
the sense of this passage, by dress, visage, deport- 
ment, or any thing of this character. 

Church-membership, faith in a creed, and the par- 
taking of the sacraments, indicate certainly no more 
than nominal Christianity. 

Simplicity and modesty of apparel become the fol- 
lowers of Christ, but an unholy heart may throb 



5 6 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSEGRA TION. 



beneath the most saintly vestments. A serious 
deportment is to be commended, but he who sup- 
poses that a sanctimonious face and a godly character 
are synonymous terms, will often be the victim of the 
wiles of the hypocrite. Membership of the Church 
is a plain Christian obligation, but it is greatly to be 
feared that there is a wide disparity in the rolls of 
members in the visible and in the invisible Church. 
Every man who belongs to the earthly does not be- 
long to the heavenly Zion. So some men are ortho- 
dox who are also reprobates, and some partake of the 
sacraments who also partake at the table of devils. 

2. It should be observed, in the second place, that 
it is not by going out of the world or society that 
this true separation is realized. The monastery and 
the nunnery have no warrant in the Scriptures, nor 
in the philosophy of the human mind. The ideas 
underlying them are antagonistic to the ideas of the 
Gospel. Christianity is not a sickly hot-house plant 
which will wilt in the fervors or be chilled by the 
rigors of the world. Men are to be none the less 
business men because they are Christians, but they 
are to be Christian business men. Society is not to 
be abandoned, but sanctified, by the followers of Jesus. 
The monasticism of the heart, the closet, the select 
religious circle, is opposed to the whole genius of 
Protestantism. Methodism never had a particle of 
sympathy with any exclusiveness of religious thought 
or experience. Its mission was, and is, to spread 
Scripture holiness, and to bring as many sinners as 
possible to repentance. And living Christian men 
are wanted every-where, in the schools, on 'Change, 
in the halls of legislation, in the caucus, in the work- 



SEP ABA TIXG PQ WEB OF DIVIDE PRESENCE. 5 7 



shop, and by the fireside, as well as in the sanctuary, 
and in the evangelical and missionary work of the 
Church. 

3. Spirituality, the divine presence, the indwelling 
of the Holy Ghost, the life of consecration and faith 
— these separate and make God's people a peculiar 
people. 

This truth is best illustrated by the life of Jesus 
our Lord, who was in the world, among men, min- 
gling with society in its various phases, at the wed- 
dings, feasts, and funerals, in the market-places and 
in the synagogues, and yet was " holy, harmless, 
undefiled, separate from sinners/' and who has left us 
an example that we should follow his steps. He said 
of his disciples, " They are not of the world even as 
I am not of the world ; " and, " As the Father hath 
sent me, so have I sent them." O, to be like Jesus, 
and to do the work of Jesus — to walk in his blessed 
footprints and to reproduce his life — these things 
will separate, and make us a peculiar, because a holy 
and beneficent people. 

4. For this separation, one's own act, concurrent 
with the divine, is necessary. You remember the 
apostle's exhortation, and the divine promise of 
graciousness and fatherhood : " Wherefore come out 
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the 
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing : and I will 
receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye 
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al- 
mighty." u Come out," " Be ye separate;" that is 
your work. " Touch not the unclean thing," that 
is, make your renunciation of sin and impurity utter 
and absolute. Then the divine promise can be 



58 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

claimed, and the presence and power of the Most 
High experienced. So, in like manner, when Paul 
affirmed that he was " separated unto the Gospel of 
God," might it not be said, That separation, Paul, is 
because you were " not disobedient to the heavenly 
mission," because you did "not frustrate the grace of 
God," and because you so yielded yourself to the 
Spirit's guidance as to be able to exclaim, " The law 
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death ? " The manifestation 
of the divine presence to our souls and in the midst 
of us as a Church will be according to the degree of 
our devotion to Christ and to his work. 

5. It is very important that this separation should 
be "known." This is the thought of Moses in the 
text : If God be with us, we shall become a teaching 
power to the nations round about us. These heathen 
will detect the tokens of the divine presence, and will 
magnify the name of Jehovah. And a spiritual 
Church is God's testimony to the world. Spirituality 
is luminous, and a holy Church shines for the same 
reason that the sun shines, because it is full of light. 
A spiritual Church is a transforming, evangelical, 
and missionary Church. It does two things which 
are demonstrative of its life and power — it produces 
integrity, striking down to the very roots of a 
man's nature and conforming him in passion and 
purpose to God, and it creates in the soul a profound 
satisfaction, such as the world cannot give, and such 
as makes men superior to losses and trials. These 
are mighty victories, and demonstrative of the power 
of the Gospel. 

6. The advantages of the divine presence are man- 



SEPARATING POWER OF DIVINE PRESENCE. 59 

ifold and great. The perils of transgression are dis- 
cerned, the needs of the Church are understood, the 
range of the promises is perceived, and the prophetic 
spirit which discovers revivals afar off and realizes 
their approach, as the fevered brow feels the first 
touch of the reviving breeze, is experienced, and holi- 
ness becomes a matchless power for the conviction 
and conversion of sinners in this out-beaming splen- 
dor of the divine presence. 

And this spiritual power is our surest defense 
against error in doctrine or practice. We must 
maintain the vital force ; then we can throw off dis- 
ease and escape contagion. We must have spiritual 
life ; then we shall become strong and able to thrive 
on any regimen. But the healthiest digestive fluid 
will not transmute food into chyle in the stomach of 
a dead man. And even the blessings of God seem 
lost on a formal and worldly Church. 

Lord Dufferin thus describes the cataract of Van 
Jayen, in the icy region of Spitzbergen : " It is like a 
river larger than the Thames," he says, "plunging 
down hundreds upon hundreds of feet ; every wreath 
of spray and tumbling wave frozen in a moment, 
stone stiff, rigid as iron, awful, everlasting death-in- 
life, staring up at the sun and the stars in their 
courses, and never meeting the Norland winds and 
the washing waves with the thunder music of its 
waters." 

So, I have thought, falls the ceaseless stream of 
divine love upon a formal, worldly Church. Its very 
energy is stiffened into rigid, ritualistic shapes, and 
its warm life is frozen over, and frozen in, by irresist- 
ible and eternal frosts. What need we under such 



60 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



circumstances ? More of the river of life, more of 
the warm stream from above, more of the breath of 
heaven breathed upon us, till the frosty spray and 
the mountains of ice melt and flow away in the music 
of rippling waters. 

There is, it is said, a certain convent on the coast 
of Spain which is a monument of the time when 
Spain was the Spain of Columbus. That convent 
has a strange chapel. It is a marble ship about 
to weigh anchor. Masts of marble serve for col- 
umns ; ropes and cables of marble are quaintly 
wound about them. Not far off the Atlantic breaks 
upon the coast, and the free winds shout forever 
across the waters. And yet that marble ship launches 
not forth upon the deep, and brings no treasures from 
distant lands. 

Such is a formal Church, unchanging, rigid, fixed ; 
perfect, it may be, in form, admirable as a work of 
art, splendid in its adaptations, imposing and solemn 
in its ritual, and complete in its doctrinal statements ; 
but accomplishing, in no essential respect, the end 
for which a Church was instituted. It lacks the 
mighty enginery which, despite winds and waves, 
would impel it on its way, freighted with the treasures 
of all seas, and bearing frankincense and myrrh from 
the ends of the earth, to make fragrant the ivory 
palaces of the great King. 

A Church, having the unction of the Holy Ghost, is 
rather symbolized by the popular idea of the old ship, 
Zion, walking the water like a thing of life, every sail 
spread to catch the breezes of heaven, jubilant with 
happy voices and songs of praise, bounding on its way 
toward the coveted shore even amid storm and tern- 



SEPARATING POWER OF DIVINE PRESENCE. 6 1 



pests, floating joyously over sunny seas, borne by 
every current and by every gale that blows nearer 
and nearer to the celestial haven, and landing its 
redeemed thousands on the happy shores of a glorious 
immortality. 

And yet this popular religious conception hardly 
symbolizes the endowed and powerful Church of 
Jesus Christ. That Church depends not on wind or 
wave, nor on any external circumstances whatever. 
It has an internal force, an unction of divine power, 
an inexhaustible spiritual energy, which cannot be 
suppressed or counteracted, and which brings it on 
its way majestic and triumphant. 

One day last summer I stood, with some friends, 
on a bold headland of the Atlantic, looking out on 
the sea. The day was beautiful, the afternoon sun 
shone soft and resplendent, the sea glowed like a 
mirror, and within the range of our vision we counted 
over eighty ships, with sails all spread to catch the 
light breeze, but seeming to make scarcely any prog- 
ress. As we gazed, another craft came into view. 
It had no sails spread, but it moved forward rapidly 
and powerfully. The waves foamed and tumbled at 
its prow, and far backward could be traced its path- 
way across the waters. It passed beyond one proud 
sailing craft after another, and soon disappeared 
from our view, with its prow toward the distant 
shore. 

Such, I exclaimed, is the Christian and the Chris- 
tian Church. Like the steamship, the great driving 
power" is within ; like the steamship, the Christian 
holds on his way, reckless of winds and waves, leaving 
far behind the little sailing smacks which perpetually 



62 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



trim their sails to catch the favoring breezes of popu- 
larity and worldly prosperity ; and, like the steamship, 
the Christian launches forth into the deep, in calm 
assurance of reaching the distant shore and safely 
entering the coveted harbor. 



FORMER FAITE CALLED TO MIND. 63 



VI. 

FORMER FAITH CALLED TO MIND. 

"But call to remembrance the former days. — Heb. x, 32." 

There is a speculative element in religion, as there is 
a ritualistic form, and a dogmatic utterance of truth ; 
but that which is vital to Christianity comes within 
the realm of experience, and so of certainty. "We 
know that we are of God." We do not know that 
our creed is faultless, that our forms are the best that 
could be devised, or that no morality or virtue can be 
found beyond our portals ; but we do know " that we 
are of God." We know that we have passed from 
death unto life, that our sins have been forgiven, that 
Jesus is our divine Lord and Saviour, that prayer is 
a prevalent and glorious reality, that the Holy Spirit 
is an abiding comforter, that we are not deceived in our 
religious experiences, that our record is on high, and 
that our budding faith will bloom in a resplendent 
immortality. And this is in accordance with Christ's 
promise : " At that day ye shall know that I am in 
my Father, and ye in me and I in you." As Whedon 
adds, " It shall be by experience. There shall be no 
guess, or mere expectation, or hope so about it. The 
religion of the Spirit is not d.hope,but an enjoyment" In 
other words, it amounts to certainty. Nothing attests 
itself like a religious experience. It is a revelation 



64 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

to the inner consciousness. Here, if anywhere, men 
may say with propriety, We cannot be mistaken. 

In the fullest sense, the Christian faith brings cer- 
tainty — brings the strongest conviction, and brings 
an ever-growing assurance that this conviction rests 
on immutable grounds, and has a basis which is as 
deep and strong as the Infinite. 

Nor is it any argument against this assurance that 
men of thought and culture are not able to perceive 
the foundation on which it rests ; for, as the apostle 
argues, it is a matter of spiritual discernment, and in 
what relates to experience nothing is reliable but 
testimony. " The natural man receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness 
unto him ; neither can he know them, because they 
"are spiritually discerned." But he that is spiritual has 
this discernment, compares spiritual things with 
spiritual, and has the revealing light of that Spirit 
which searcheth all things, even the deep things of 
God. " Now we have received, not the spirit of the 
world, but the spirit which is of God, that zve might 
know the tilings which are freely given 7 is of God!' 

And that this is truly a revelation of God to the soul 
we are certain ; because it accords with the promise 
of the Inspired Word ; because it is given to us in 
answer to prayer ; because it produces a divine trans- 
formation of our natures ; because it is adapted to 
the constitution, temperament, and necessities of 
each individual man ; because it satisfies the heart in 
its longings for full and unwasting joys ; because it 
meets every variety of human condition ; because it 
inspires the purest morality and the most unselfish 
beneficence ; because it creates a genuine missionary 



FORMER FAITH CALLED TO MIND. 



65 



spirit, leading to sacrifice and labor for the instruction 
and salvation of every soul for whom Christ died ; 
and because, in a word, it advances every human 
interest, gives sanction to law, purity to domestic life, 
power to civilization, support to the bereaved, train- 
ing to childhood, exaltation to woman, and songs of 
triumph to the lips of the dying. "A preparatory 
faith," says Whedon, " comes by testimony ; the full- 
ness of faith, by experience." And when we have 
heard Jesus ourselves, then, like the Samaritans who 
had listened to his instructions, we know that he is, 
indeed, the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Ben- 
gel, speaking of the expressions of the beloved apostle, 
to know him, to be in him, to abide in him, observes 
that they are synonyms with a gradation, knowledge, 
fellowship, constancy. O happy soul, that in this 
unbroken fellowship of a Saviour's presence and 
love has this certain knowledge of acceptance and 
salvation ! 

How great the consolation of this assurance ! 
Every Christian may exclaim, as the apostle, " I 
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that 
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto 
him against that day." In this certain confidence 
there is triumphant joy. Hence the pertinency of 
Rutherford's exhortation, " Die believing ; die zvith 
Christ's promise in your hand? And that promise, 
firmly clasped, will buoy up the soul in the darkest 
and most troubled waters. " And this is the confi- 
dence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing 
according to his will, he heareth us ; and if we know 
that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we 
have the petitions we desired of him." 

5 



65 



SHOUT SERMONS OX CONSECRATION. 



"With a man of faith/' says Buckminster, "not an 
affliction is lost, not a change is unimproved. He 
studies even his own history with pleasure, and finds 
it full of instruction. The dark passages of his life 
are illuminated with hope ; and he sees that although 
he has passed through many dreary defiles, yet they 
have opened at last into brighter regions of existence. 
He recalls with a species of wondering gratitude 
periods of his life when all its events seemed to con- 
spire against him. Hemmed in by straitened circum- 
stances, wearied with repeated blows of unexpected 
misfortunes, and exhausted with the painful anticipa- 
tion of more, he recollects years when the ordinary 
love of life could not have retained hirn in the world. 
Many a time he might have wished to lay down his 
being in disgust, had not something more than the 
senses provide us with kept up the elasticity of his 
mind. He yet lives, and has found that light is sown 
for the righteous and gladness for the upright in 
heart." " If any man will do his will, he shall know 
of the doctrine whether it be of God." In the path 
of obedience and truth he will realize a growing faith, 
unwavering certainty, unfailing consolation, and an 
everlasting assurance of that love of Christ which 
passeth knowledge. 

In 1769 Mr. Wesley records in his journal that he 
spent "a comfortable and profitable hour" with 
Whitefield, who was then near the close of his re- 
markable career, in " calling to mind the former times? 
and the manner in which God had prepared them for 
" a work which it had not entered into their heart to 
conceive." 

There is, perhaps, a tendency in old men, as in 



FORMER FAITH CALLED TO MIND. 67 



soldiers returned from the wars, to consider the past, 
to re-fight the battles of other days, and to look back- 
ward rather than forward, for inspiration and the 
ardor of hope. 

Certainly, the past is not to be forgotten, nor its 
lessons unheeded. Wisdom is born of observation 
and experience. Second sight is* clearness of sight ; 
and those who have looked long into the heavens, 
look deeply, and discern what to others are unknown 
worlds. Knowledge of the past brings knowledge of 
the future, 

" Till old Experience doth attain 
To something like prophetic strain." 

" Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord 
thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness," 
was God's command to his ancient people ; and he 
confidently appeals to them, on this wise : " Ye know 
in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one 
thing hath failed of all the good things which the 
Lord your God spake concerning you ; all are come 
to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed 
thereof." This command and appeal suppose and re- 
quire a remembrance of the past, an examination of 
the covenant, and a comparison of what had been 
promised with what had been received. It is, in one 
word, a demand that former things be called to 
mind. 

So the apostle, arguing with the Hebrew Chris- 
tians against apostasy, to which they were peculiarly 
liable because of their persecutions, reminds them of 
their former trials and their patient endurance of 
them. Soon after they were enlightened they had a 
severe trial of their faith, and endured a great fight 



68 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



of afflictions. They suffered the spoiling of their 
goods ; they were " made a gazing-stock, both by re- 
proaches and affliction," that is, they experienced the 
greatest contempt and contumely from the world, 
even as criminals who became a spectacle in the 
theater, and were insulted and outraged by the popu- 
lace ; and, when they personally escaped, yet they 
were "companions of them that were so used," in 
their tenderest and holiest sympathies and brotherly 
identity with them, and so experienced the common 
trial. But their faith did not fail. They knew for 
themselves that they had in heaven a better and a 
more enduring substance, and they rejoiced in their 
fadeless and everlasting possessions. 

It is to this time of wasting persecution that the 
apostle refers, when he asks them to " call to re- 
membrance the former days ; " and he does it for 
their encouragement, for the quickening of their faith 
and the inspiration of their hopes. If this seem 
strange to us, we have need to consider that trials 
passed through successfully in a good cause are not 
unpleasant to recall to remembrance, and that the 
consciousness of having endured hardship and grief 
with fortitude steels and strengthens the soul for 
present and future conflicts. Those addressed, as 
Olshausen states, " had already, at an earlier period, 
endured manifold trials of their faith ; in this lies a 
double motive for them not to fall away from their 
faith now : first, because thereby all their former suf- 
ferings would be rendered vain ; and, secondly, that 
suffering itself was an experimental testimony to the 
power of faith." 

It is as if a military force had carried one line after 



FORMER FAITH CALLED TO MIND. 69 



another of an enemy's works, but others yet remain 
to be carried. If they fall back they will lose what 
they have gained ; but, on the other hand, what they 
have accomplished is proof of their sufficiency to go 
forward and gain a complete victory, if their courage 
does not fail. It is thus that Christian soldiers, 
timorous at first, are made veterans by experience. 
Every successful conflict through which they pass 
increases their confidence in the Captain of their sal- 
vation, in the completeness of their impenetrable 
armor, and in the power of the sword of the Spirit to 
strike through every defense of their artful and im- 
placable enemy. 

In order, therefore, to nerve the soul for its con- 
flicts, former faith and former triumphs may be ap- 
propriately called to mind. The same promises re- 
main, the same grace abounds, and the same Guide 
still holds our hand and directs our way. Moreover, 
" He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
thee; so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my 
helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto 
me." 

This assurance, springing from the remembrance 
of a former faith, is, however, a very different thing 
from a disposition to rest in an old experience as the 
ground of present acceptance. To assume that we 
are now in the favor of God because we once had 
tokens of his love, that former activity in his service 
condones for present sluggishness, and that the rec- 
ollection of early joys may compensate for dearth of 
comfort, faintness of hope, and littleness of strength 
in our actual, living experiences, seems like a species 
of madness. A business man might as well boast of 



70 SHOBT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



his former success, though at the present driven into 
bankruptcy and ruin ; or a soldier exult in the victo- 
ries which he once gained, though now prostrate 
beneath the feet of an insulting foe ; or a criminal 
rejoice, in the darkness of his dungeon and amid the 
clanking of his chains, in the sunny memories of an 
innocent childhood, or a manly career of integrity 
and honor. ' 

If we have not, to-day, Christian constancy and the 
light and joy of the divine approval, our former ex- 
periences of a Saviour s presence and love are only an 
occasion of shame and reproach, and should excite 
bitter self-condemnation, and profound humiliation 
of soul. The memory of former days, in such a case, 
should only lead to pungent sorrows and many tears. 
God's word of precept to such persons is : " Remem- 
ber therefore how thou hast received and heard, and 
hold fast, and repent ; " and his word of promise, that 
then shall their offering " be pleasant unto the Lord, 
as in the days of old, and as in former years." 

This calling to mind of a triumphant faith does 
not lead one to inquire, in a croaking, misanthropic 
spirit, " What is the cause that the former days were 
better than these ?" but rather it may be, "What is 
the cause that my faith is not as strong, my conse- 
cration as complete, my diligence as great, my zeal as 
intense, my concern for souls as consuming, and 
my success in doing the Lord's work as manifest, as 
in former days ? " And though one may not inquire 
wisely in regard to former days, yet a contrast of 
present with former experience, for the purpose of 
admonition, instruction, encouragement, or inspira- 
tion, must always be a source of substantial and en- 



FOBMEE FAITH GALLED TO MIND. 



71 



during profit ; for it will certainly bring before the 
mind the faithfulness, the sufficiency, and the loving- 
kindness of a covenant-keeping God. " Remember 
the former things of old," saith the Lord by the proph- 
et, " for I am God, and there is none else ; declar- 
ing the end from the beginning, and from the ancient 
times the things that are not yet done ; saying, My 
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." 

Sometimes the saints of God may be induced to 
inquire, as the Psalmist, " Lord, where are thy former 
loving-kindnesses ? " but a contemplation of the di- 
vine goodness will customarily excite that strain of 
holy rapture and conscious triumph which the sweet 
singer of Israel reaches in the final note of his song, 
" Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and 
amen." 

P^ormer faith called to mind, ought not only to 
inspire present confidence, but also large expecta- 
tions of future success and ultimate victory. The 
law of divine manifestation is that of development, 
revelation, and progress. The glory of the latter 
house was to be greater than that of the former. " Be- 
hold," saith the Lord, " I create new heavens and a 
new earth ; and the former shall not be remembered, 
nor come into mind." He who " spake in time past 
unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last 
days spoken unto us by his Son." The ministration 
of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, 
but the" ministration of the Spirit is rather glorious : 
" for even that which was made glorious had no 
glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that ex- 
celleth." An increase, therefore, of light, wisdom, 
strength, and glory, and joy of the divine presence, 



72 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



in the processes of Christian experience, is in perfect 
accordance with the whole history of the divine man- 
ifestations, and in harmony with the entire analogy 
of the faith. Precisely what we ought to expect is, 
that " the path of the just" will be "as the shining 
light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect 
day." However beautiful the morning of our Chris- 
tian experience, when the day star of a Gospel hope 
rose on the darkness of our benighted natures, a 
noon-day more luminous may be justly anticipated ; 
and even the clouds which gather around life's close 
may become gorgeous with the reflected light of a 
glorious immortality. 

The remembrance of former days will awaken 
many troublesome questions in our minds, except we 
have learned the great truth, that "a man's life is 
where the kingdom of heaven is — within him," and 
that the purpose of the Infinite Goodness is always, 
by whatever sorrow or sacrifice of other things, to 
bring us to the noblest type of character, and the 
completest conformity to the image of his Son. 
Trench, discussing the question whether the tribula- 
tions visited on' the Church in Smyrna were to be 
regarded as the gracious trials of God or the tempta- 
tions of the devil, says. " It is, indeed, perfectly true, 
that the same event is oftentimes both the one and 
the other — God sifting and winnowing the man to 
separate his chaff from his wheat ; the devil sifting 
and winnowing him in the hope that nothing else but 
chaff will be found in him." And he adds, " God 
makes trial of his servants to show them what of sin, 
of infirmity, of unbelief, is in themselves ; and, show- 
ing them this, to leave them holier than before this 



FORMER FAITH CALLED TO MIXD. 



73 



temptation found them." Let us be grateful, then, 
that if in former times we have been sifted and win- 
nowed, in ways which we could not comprehend, and 
for reasons which to our finite understandings were 
inscrutable, we have not been found wholly chaff, but 
that the existence of some genuine wheat has been 
demonstrated. "Let us learn to regard everything as 
a mercy for which God is to be devoutly praised, 
which has been calculated to bring us nearer to 
Christ, to make us more like him, and to prepare us 
more fully to reproduce his life in the earth. 

The sustaining power of a former faith called to 
mind is aptly illustrated in the following narrative, 
which will be found, at length, in the first volume of 
Stevens' History of Methodism. John Haime was 
one of Mr. Wesley's most successful lay preachers. 
He was the victim of nervous disorders, morbidly 
conscientious, inclined to solitude and sentimental 
sadness, and often, before his conversion, contem- 
plated suicide. Seeking relief for his troubled spirit, 
he enlisted in the army as a dragoon, but serious 
thoughts and gross excesses alternated in his life from 
day to day. Walking by the side of the Tweed, he 
cried aloud, "being all athirst for God, 'O that thou 
would hear my prayer, and let my cry come up before 
thee!'" " The Lord," he wrote, " heard; he sent a 
gracious answer ; he lifted me up out of the dungeon. 
He took away my sorrow and fear, and filled my soul 
with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." That day 
was never forgotten. He went into the battle of 
Dettingen, exclaiming, " In Tkee have I trusted; 
let me never be confounded!' He adds : " My 
heart was filled with love, peace and joy, more than 



74 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



tongue can confess. I was in a new world." His 
comrades for seven terrible hours fell on either 
side of him, but he came out of the battle safe and 
triumphant in his faith. Afterward, in the more san- 
guinary contest at Fontenoy, Haime was in the hot- 
test of the fire for several hours. He did not believe 
that he should die that day. He trusted in the same 
Lord who had delivered him. His horse was killed 
under him. An officer cried out, " Haime, where is 
your God now ? " He answ r ered, " Sir, he is here 
with me, and he will bring me out of this battle." 
Presently, a cannon ball took off the officer's head. 
Haime disengaged himself from his fallen horse and 
walked on, praising God. " I was exposed," he says, 
" both to the enemy and to our own horse ; but that 
did not discourage me at 'all ; for I knew the God of 
Jacob was with me. Surely I zuas in tlie fiery fur- 
nace, but it did not singe a hair of my liead. The 
hotter the battle grew, the more strength was given 
me ; I was as full of joy as I could contain." A 
quarter of a century after the battle of Fontenoy an 
aged . preacher wrote to John Wesley that " all the 
promises of Scripture were full of comfort to him, 
particularly this, 1 I have chosen thee in the furnace 
of affliction! " It was the brave and trustful John 
Haime, who had been so marvelously delivered, and 
who now called to mind his former faith. The prom- 
ises of God so often tried and proved, had become, 
he said, as " precious to his soul as rain to the thirsty 
land." He died in his seventy-eighth year, exclaiming 
with a confident and triumphant faith, "When my 
soul departs from this body, a convoy of angels will 
conduct me to the paradise of God." 



FOBMEB FAITH CALLED TO MIND. 



In heaven, I may acid, there will be no forgetfulness 
of earth, but the former days will often be called to 
mind. Even the things which have passed away will 
not sink into oblivion. They will be still remem- 
bered, and celebrated in glowing songs ; for they will 
have become a part of the great history of redemp- 
tion. He who stands at the head of the sacramental 
host is ''the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince 
of the kings of the earth." And the triumphant 
song, from hallowed lips, chanted by glorified saints, 
and swelling around the eternal throne, will commem- 
orate the praises of God the Father Almighty, and 
of the Lamb, fountain of redemption and salvation. 
And these ransomed souls will recall the fact that 
they were washed from their sins, made kings and 
priests unto God, brought out of great tribulation, 
" arrayed in fine linen clean and white, for the white 
linen is the righteousness of the saints," and made 
inheritors of the new earth and heavens, through the 
mercy and love of Jesus Christ, the Son of man, who 
died on Calvary for the sins of the whole world. The 
former faith, therefore, will constitute the warp and 
woof of their exalted and imperishable being. That 
former faith, indeed, was the bud which blossomed 
into their heavenly experiences. And as their first 
illumination was the dawning blush of the glorious 
and eternal day, so " the former days " are now re- 
called as key-notes to their immortal songs. 



76 SEOBT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



VII. 

GIVE THE CHOICEST THINGS TO JESUS. 



" And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him 
gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."- — Matt, ii, 11. 

Gold was early known, highly esteemed for orna- 
mental purposes, and reckoned a desirable treasure, 
long before it was coined into money, employed as a 
medium of exchange, or made a standard of commer- 
cial values. Frankincense is a vegetable resin, brittle, 
glittering, and of a bitter taste, formerly used for the 
purpose of sacrificial fumigation. It is obtained by 
successive incisions in the bark of a tree called the 
arbor tkuris. It is a product of the East, emits a 
pleasant odor, and is an appropriate offering to a royal 
or divine personage. Incense conveys the idea of 
adoration ; it is the breath of praise. Myrrh is the 
Arabic of a thorny tree, like the acacia, from which 
flows a white liquid that thickens and becomes a gum. 
It is used as a perfume, but especially for embalming. 
We are told, for instance, that Joseph of Arimathea, 
and Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, 
embalmed the body of our crucified Lord in a mixture 
of myrrh and aloes, winding it in linen cloths with 
the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

In one word, then, this presentation to Him who 
was born King of the Jews, of gold, frankincense, and 



GIVE THE CHOICEST THINGS TO JESUS. 77 

myrrh, was an acknowledgment on the part of the 
Magi that he into whose presence the light of a 
journeying star had mysteriously guided their steps 
was entitled to their homage, service, and affection — 
was entitled to their most costly and most tenderly 
loved treasures ; and that unto him tribute must be 
paid, fealty avowed, and incense offered. In like 
manner it is our privilege to give our best things to 
Jesus. Our gold and incense can be brought gladly 
to his altars. Our time, talents, possessions, reputa- 
tion, capacity for service and suffering, may all be 
rendered to our royal Master. Such an offering is 
demanded at our hands. 

Our Lord deserves this grand recognition. He is 
the Prince of peace and the Lord of life. His wis- 
dom is infinite, his goodness is inexhaustible, his love 
and mercy boundless and free. He is a most princely 
Prince, and a most loving Lover. All his garments 
smell of myrrh and cassia out of the ivory palaces. 
He has shown his favor to us. He has loved us with 
a great love and ransomed us with a great price. For 
us he left the glory which he had with the Father 
before the world was. He was rich, yet for our 
sakes he became poor. He bore our sins in his body 
on the cross. He triumphed over death and hell in 
behalf of our imperiled souls. He is our Mediator, 
our living Intercessor before the throne. Can we 
recall what he is and what he has done for us, and 
not render unto him our best thoughts, our fullest 
energies, our purest affections, our choicest posses- 
sions, our tenderest relations, our grandest consecra- 
tion of purpose, and our most comprehensive devotion 
of life, with all its powers and possibilities ? Can 



7 8 SHORT SBRMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



we do too much for such a. Saviour? Can we deny 
ourselves too rigidly for him who was made in sin- 
ful flesh and endured the agonies of Calvary for 
us ? Can we render too precious an offering to the 
Lover of our souls, who offered his life for our re- 
demption ? Can we live too constantly and utterly 
for him who lives in heaven, " the prime and blossom " 
of our glorified humanity, to be our Representative 
and Advocate ? 

Bring gold, bring incense, bring the heart's best 
offering to Jesus. Give life, love, friends, and fortune 
to him. Learn to employ the mind for him. Think 
of his cause and its necessities. Ask yourself, How 
can I do more for him ? How can I deny myself 
more fully and economize more closely that I may 
give more to his cause ? How can I lead men whose 
eyes are closed and whose ears are stopped to dis- 
cern his beauty and to listen to that voice whose 
music makes the melody of the heavens ? A heart 
full of love will long to express it. A life given up 
to a grand purpose will yearn for the opportunity of 
heroic devotion. And a soul, lifted to something like 
a just conception of the extent of redeeming mercy 
and love, will desire above all things to manifest, 
by sacrifice and service, its boundless attachments, 
its heroic ardors, and its utter and unmeasured conse- 
cration. To know and to love Jesus when he is 
truly discerned is the soul's most cherished privilege 
and passion. 

O Son of God ! thou art worthy ; there is none like 
thee ; thou art a tender, loving Saviour ; thou art 
our Brother, and yet the Divinity shines through thy 
human nature ; thou art a Prince and a Deliverer, 



GIVE THE CHOICEST THINGS TO JESUS. 79 

and worthy of our homage and love ! We bring our 
all to thee. We give thee our gold and our incense, 
our hearts and our homes, our fortunes and our 
future. Accept us, for thy mercy's sake, our Lord 
and King! 

We owe this fullness of consecration to ourselves. 
No man is fully a man till he is fully the Lord's. 
The treasures we withhold are moth-eaten ; the sac- 
rifice which we do not present on the divine altar 
becomes a stench ; the choice things reserved to our- 
selves are transmuted into curses ; the incense which 
we do not offer to Jesus ministers to self-love, vanity, 
and idol-worship ; the disloyalty and treason to 
heaven's King produce anarchy, misery, and a dreary 
desolation and darkness of death in the soul. No 
man is ever a gainer by any thing withheld from 
Christ. On the contrary, the intellect consecrated 
to him is henceforth a brighter intellect, the heart 
given to him is a purer and happier heart, and the life 
devoted to his service is a nobler and sublimer life. 
How precious is the gold which has been laid on his 
altar ! How sweet the incense, diffusing royal per- 
fumes through every chamber of the soul, which has 
been breathed in prayer before the Lord ! How 
delightful the possession which is held and enjoyed, 
as belonging to Jesus, sanctified by his acceptance, 
and used only for his kingdom and glory ! How 
exalted the privilege of doing or suffering some- 
thing, in some way, for that Saviour who every 
moment gives us himself and makes us sharers in 
his immortal inheritance ! The will grows stronger, 
the aim higher, the life more heroic, just as we are 
able to count all things loss for the excellency of 



80 SHORT SER3I0XS OX COXSECBATIOX. 



Jesus. Our relations to others are better understood 
and the ways of Providence are plainer the more 
complete and constant our consecration to Christ. 

We may not have much to give ; but the whole, 
however little, is never a small offering. The two 
mites become a royal gift, which heaven stamps as 
munificent and rewards with a kingdom, when it is 
all ones living. If we have not gold we can bring 
incense — the incense of grateful, loving, consecrated 
hearts. The sincere desire to pour our all at the feet 
of the Saviour, to give him ten thousand times more 
than we have to give, to love him with a perfect love, 
and to serve him with unselfish and faithful souls, is 
what chiefly commends us to the Father of all good- 
ness and grace. " Richer by far " than all the splen- 
dors which wealth can show, " is the heart's adora- 
tion." " Dearer to God " than all the munificence of 
princes, the gifts of genius, or the endowments of 
learning, " are the prayers of the poor." We may 
not be able to offer " odors of Eden," "gems of the 
mountain," " pearls of the ocean," " myrrh from the 
forest, or gold from the mine;" but a broken, con- 
trite, and loving heart he will not despise, but will 
assuredly accept, beautify, and ennoble with his 
presence and salvation. 



CONSEORA TION OF MONET AND INFL UENGE. 8 1 



Yin. 

CONSECRATION OF MONEY AND INFLUENCE. 

"If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." — Psa. lxii, 10. 

In his letter to " Zion's Herald/' " From Detroit to 
Duluth," Bishop Gilbert Haven recites an incident 
which occurred in the former city, as follows : 

" A new chapel dedicated in the afternoon revealed 
a new sight to me in Church-begging — that of a rich 
man doing the solicitation. David Preston.was the 
man that did it, and admirably was it done. He held 
that house full, with hardly a leak, for two whole 
hours, and gave them a clear receipt for $7,000 of 
indebtedness as its pleasant finale. You never heard 
of David Preston ? Well, you ought to. He should 
have many imitators in giving and in begging. He 
is a banker of Detroit, not very wealthy as wealth 
goes nowadays — a quarter of a million or so — who 
loves his Church, and shows his love by his works 
and words. He took the platform, opened the offer- 
tory services with a song by Chaplain M'Cabe, prom- 
ised another when $5,000 should be raised : started 
off the $500 subscriptions with one for himself and 
one for his wife, and worked on and down till he got 
the whole amount raised. It was a delightful service. 
Everybody enjoyed it. He gave about $3,000 of the 

whole, and rode home the happiest man of all the 

6 



82 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



crowd. How I wished and prayed that other Davids 
who are bankers, and others of all names and call- 
ings, would go and do likewise in free chapel build- 
ing, and other benevolences. Brother Preston prom- 
ises thirty, and even forty, churches in Detroit in not 
many years, and he will make his promise sure." 

David Preston ought to have many imitators in 
every city. This kind of active, leading, inspiriting 
beneficence on the part of rich men is the great 
need of the Church in our time. The greatest boon 
our Methodism could receive from heaven in any city 
would be a David Preston. Not that our rich men 
are not generous, and have not cheerfully sustained 
the institutions of the Church. There is little ground 
for complaint in these regards ; but leadership, organ- 
izing pq,wer, and inspiriting example in beneficence 
and home missionary labors on the part of our wealthy 
men we deplorably lack. What we want in every 
city is a layman of intelligence, business capacity, 
ample resources, and utter consecration to Christ's cause, 
who will put himself in the front and cry, " Come 
on." We could build a church edifice in any grow- 
ing city every year, if we had a single man among 
all its men of wealth who would say, " I make my 
money for Christ ; this is Christ's work, and it must 
go forward ; I do not propose to live in a fine house 
and have Christ's cause turned out-of-doors, to ride 
in a fine carriage and have Christ's cause go on foot, 
to be honored by my fellows, and enjoy the fullness 
of commercial and political distinctions, and have 
Christ's cause reproached by gainsayers and infidels, 
and trodden under foot of men. And I ask you who 
have corresponding ability with myself to assist me 



00N8EGEA TIOX OF MONEY AJW I2TFL UENCE. 8 3 



in this work, and I ask every body to help, to give 
their money in however small sums, and their prayers 
with unrestricted liberality, and let us build up the 
cause of God in this city." No bishop coming to 
reside in a metropolitan center, with whatever meas- 
ure of learning, eloquence, and sanctity, could by 
any possibility do so much for Christ's cause as one 
such layman. The Church will never realize her full 
measure of prosperity till her wealthy and cultured 
laymen take hold of her enterprises of beneficence, 
as they take hold of bank and railroad enterprises, 
putting themselves into tJiem with all their resources 
of energy and capital, resolved to make them a suc- 
cess. And what is chiefly wanted in order to the 
realization of this state of things is lay leadersliip, 
which is clear-headed, full-handed, and large-hearted. 
It is not necessary that such persons should them- 
selves give such extraordinary sums — not more, per- 
haps, than they might under other circumstances — 
but that they should give as a privilege, as their mode 
of preaching the Gospel, and that they should be 
originators, inspirers, organizers, leaders, John-the- 
Baptists of benevolence, preparing the way for one 
to come after them baptizing with fire. 

There are two or three considerations bearing on 
this subject which I ask you, my wealthy brethren, to 
consider : 

1. Property has its duties. You will not deny this 
proposition. If God has given you wealth, and talent 
for making wealth, he will call you to account for the 
use of these gifts. He has not given you money for 
luxury, for selfish indulgence, for worldly show, or for 
the ends of your personal ambition. You will say 



84 SHORT SERMON'S OS COXSECBATIOX. 



that such men as Haven and Whedon and Simpson 
and Bowman are bound to consecrate their power of 
intellect, splendid erudition, practical wisdom, and 
thrilling eloquence, wholly to the service of our divine 
Lord ; in the same manner, for the same reason, and 
to the same extent, you are bound to devote your 
property, and your talent for accumulation, to the 
advancement of the Redeemer's cause and kingdom 
in the world. 

2. Property Jias its perils. As wealth furnishes facil- 
ities for indulgence, and gives opportunities for wrongs 
which could not otherwise be committed, its posses- 
sion maybe regarded as a constant temptation. How 
few fail to become vain, exacting, consequential, lux- 
urious, pompous, overbearing, and foolishly ambitious 
who pass under its influence ! And how seldom, when 
parents escape these blighting effects, do children 
also ! In how great a majority of instances is 
parental wealth a curse rather than a blessing to the 
sons and daughters of opulence ! How few persons 
who have become rich are happier than when they 
were poor, or had only a competency ! This ought 
not to be. Every added power or possession should 
increase our joys, and certainly would, if they 
were faithfully consecrated to Christ. But that 
which is wrongfully withheld from God is a curse 
not only to our own souls, but also to our children 
after us. 

How few wealthy men enjoy as much of the love 
of God in their hearts as they did w 7 hen they were 
poor ! They should enjoy more ; and would, if they 
were diligently employing their means and opportuni- 
ties to spread the Gospel of the Son of God in the 



CONSECRA TION OF MONEY AND IXFL UENCE. 8 5 



earth. " If riches increase, set not your heart upon 
them." But how difficult not to set the heart upon 
them ! and how certainly will they become the object 
of an idolatrous affection if they are regarded as a 
selfish possession, and not simply as trust funds, re- 
ceived for the use of Christ's homeless and church- 
less poor in this land and in all lands ! But how 
dignified and important the position of Christ's stew- 
ard — the almoner of God's gifts to perishing men ! 
On the other hand, our Saviour has distinctly taught 
us that the man is a fool — a moral fool, a fool in respect 
to spiritual things, that is, the highest kind of a fool — 
who "layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich- 
toward God." And " they that will be rich," accord- 
ing to the -apostle, " fall into temptation and a snare, 
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown 
men in destruction and perdition." . 

3. Property brings great possibilities of usefulness to 
its possessors. Wealth is not power in the sense in 
which Bacon made this affirmation of knowledge, but it 
is an agency which may be successfully employed for the 
noblest ends. Property is often a kind of blind force 
in this world, grinding impotent] y at the mill of the 
Philistines, or madly wrenching away the pillars of 
the temple, to its own destruction, or used by ignor- 
ance and superstition to acomplish ends which it 
never contemplated. But money and brains and 
devout souls can inaugurate revolutions, and lay the 
foundations of empires. And men who have wealth, 
and talents, and opportunities for acquisition, should 
be very grateful to Almighty God, should employ 
these resources diligently, and should consecrate all 
their growing gifts on the altars, of a Saviour's love 



86 SHORT SEBMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



and a world's necessities. Then how much can 
wealth accomplish, especially when organized, in- 
spired, and aggregated ! To what needs will it min- 
ister, what necessities relieve, and what sorrows 
assuage! What wrongs, outrages and oppressions 
will yield to its beneficent power and pass away ! 
What continents of moral waste will it fertilize, and 
what fountains of joy and blessing will it open for 
the refreshment of millions of perishing souls ! What 
institutions of charity, education, and religion will 
spring up beneath its golden touch, and how vast 
the results it will accomplish for humanity and 
God! 

" Charge them that are rich in this world, that 
they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain 
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly 
all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that they be 
rich in good w T orks, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a 
good foundation against the time to come, that they 
may lay hold on eternal life." 

Let us not envy the rich who use their riches for 
selfish ends, inasmuch as they lose life's grand op- 
portunity, and have a fearful account to render ; but % 
how distinguished, how favored, how truly enviable 
the condition of those who, having wealth, can resist 
its blandishments ; who, possessing an abundance, 
realize their constant dependence on the Great 
Giver ; who are rich in good works, ready to distrib- 
ute and willing to communicate ; who pave with 
gold the streets of the New Jerusalem, garner up for 
themselves stores of immortal riches, by transmuting 
their perishable into imperishable and fadeless pos- 



CONSECRATION OF MONEY AND INFLUENCE. 87 

sessions, and who lay hold on God's great gift of 
eternal life, praising and magnifying the grace of that 
Saviour who was rich, and yet for our sakes became 
poor, that we through his poverty might be rich ! 

" I counsel thee," saith Jesus to every man of 
property in the Church, " to buy of me gold tried in 
the fire that thou mayest be rich," spiritually rich, 
rich in faith, and heirs of the eternal kingdom. "I 
know several rich men," says Bishop Haven, " who 
would make admirable beggars ; " and those who 
become such for Christ's cause will reign as princes 
before the throne of God in heaven. 



88 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



IX. 

RICHES IN POVERTY. 

W I know thy . . . poverty, but thou art rich." — Rev. ii, 9. 

So said the First and the Last to the angel of the 
Church of Smyrna. In poverty, in tribulation, and in 
prison, the suffering saints in Smyrna had a right to 
claim the compassion of their fellows ; but He who 
was alive from the dead, and beheld their works, es- 
teemed them rich, and worthy of congratulations. 
" Be thou faithful unto death " is the word of Jesus 
to this tried and persecuted minister, M and I will 
give thee a crown of life." " He that overcometh," 
said the Spirit to the Churches, " shall not be hurt of 
the second death." 

" How much better this/' says Trench, " poor in 
the esteem of the world, but rich before Christ, than 
the condition of the Laodicean angel, rich in his own 
esteem, but most poor to the sight of Christ ? . . . 
Men saw nothing there save the poverty, but He who 
sees not as man seeth saw the true riches which 
this seeming poverty concealed — which, indeed, the 
poverty, rightly interpreted, was; even as He too 
often sees the real poverty which may lie behind the 
show of riches ; for there are both poor rich-men and 
rich poor-men in his sight." 

Manifestly the teaching is, that while men arc 



RICHES IN POVERTY. 



89 



poor, in the sense of not possessing earthly treasures, 
which are usually supposed to constitute riches, they 
may be rich in some higher and better sense, in the 
heirship and possession of a spiritual opulence more 
golden than gold and more princely than princedoms. 
There are no such riches as riches of goodness, the 
wealth of a noble nature, the abundance of a generous 
heart ; and there is no such poverty as the poverty 
of a mean soul — a sinful, selfish, sordid character and 
life. " A little that a righteous man hath is better 
than the riches of many wicked." 

The majority of men are, and must always remain, 
relatively poor, although the poor of one period and 
country may enjoy many more advantages and com- 
forts than the rich of another age and land. " The 
poor," said the Lord to his ancient people, " shall 
never cease out of the land ; " and the word of Jesus 
was, " Ye have the poor always with you." Since, 
then, this is a condition of society which must always 
exist ; since only the few can, in the very nature of 
things, be opulent, it is important to consider the 
hardships, advantages, and opportunities of the poor. 

I. Poverty has its peculiar trials and temptations. 
There are manifold privations to be endured. For 
how many things do the poor vainly sigh ! Not for 
food and drink only, or chiefly ; but for knowledge, 
opportunities for culture, for travel, for the gratifica- 
tion of esthetic tastes and benevolent impulses, and 
for all those things which enrich manhood and enno- 
ble the soul. The necessity of daily toil is not so 
great a hardship as are the privations born of that 
necessity. It is hard to feel that there are mines of 
inestimable value beneath our feet which we can 



90 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

never fathom ; that there are promised lands, flowing 
with milk and honey, on the other side of us which 
we can never explore ; and that there are heavens 
above us, glowing with resplendent beauty, into 
which we can never rise. We are confined, by an 
iron necessity, to a daily routine of labor. Poverty 
deprives us not only of wings, but of hands and feet. 
We can neither fly nor go. We are bound, like 
galley slaves, to our tasks. We see the needs of the 
Church and the world, and we cannot supply them. 
We look on sufferings which we are not able to re- 
lieve. The wolf howls at our hearth-stones, and we 
cannot drive him away. Our children sicken and 
die, and we can neither minister to their comfort in 
sickness, nor lay them in their lowly graves, in a 
manner consonant with the yearnings of our hearts. 
Who but those who have experienced such trials 
know how to appreciate their severity ? " The de- 
struction of the poor is their poverty." 

And of such trials are born temptations. Agur's 
prayer has generally been regarded as a model of 
wisdom : " Remove far from me vanity and lies ; give 
me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food 
convenient for me ; lest I be full, and deny thee, and 
say, Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, 
and take the name of my God in vain." To trespass 
on the property rights of others, and to blaspheme 
the name and providence of God, are the pressing 
temptations of those who are in circumstances of in- 
digence. How greatly liable also are they to envy 
of the rich, and discontent with their own condition ! 
Poverty often breeds selfishness, coarseness, and 
sensuality. Men feeling that the heights are be- 



BIGHES IN POVERTY. 



91 



yond their reach, will often plunge madly into the 
depths. 

But let it be considered that many who are rich 
are wrongly rich, by extortion, fraud, and violence ; 
and that no Scripture is truer, or more abundantly 
confirmed by observation, than this: " As the par- 
tridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not ; so he 
that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them 
in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a 
fool.' , Why envy the rich fool ? " Labor not to be 
rich," saith the word of Inspiration, " cease from thine 
own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that 
which is not ? " that is, having no reality, and not 
even worthy of being mentioned ; " for riches cer- 
tainly make themselves wings ; they fly away as an 
eagle toward heaven." Even when honestly acquired, 
they are, by no means, a secure possession. And if 
they abide, they are often a drag on the soul — a 
source of corruption, degradation, and ruin. " How 
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the king- 
dom of God." 

Riches are not transmissible to children, like the 
blessing of a covenant-keeping God. Men, by much 
toil and sacrifice, heap up riches, but they know not 
who shall gather them. " Be not afraid when one is 
made rich, when the glory of his house is increased ; 
for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away ; his 
glory shall not descend after him." And who is so 
poor as the man who dies in spiritual insolvency, and 
goes empty-handed into eternity ? " But the mercy 
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon 
them that fear him, and his righteousness unto chil- 
dren's children ; to such as keep his covenant, and 



92 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



to those that remember his commandments to do 
them." And this blessing of a covenant-keeping God 
is the richest inheritance which any man can trans- 
mit to his posterity. And this is the possibility and 
' the privilege of the poor. 

2. Poverty has its advantages. 

It is a source of physical profit. " The sleep of a 
laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much." 
A good digestion, hardness of bone and muscle, and 
a strong vitality, are blessings not to be despised. 

It is a source of mental profit. " Better is a hand- 
ful with quietness, than both the hands full with 
travail and vexation of spirit." One of God's prom- 
ises to Zion is, " I will satisfy her poor with bread." 
His special providence is vouchsafed to the needy. 

It is a source of spiritual profit. " The poor have 
the Gospel preached to them ; " and this was its 
joyful evangel, as it fell from the lips of the Son of 
God himself : " Blessed be ye poor ; for yours is the 
kingdom of God." And the inquiry of the apostle, 
which is equivalent to the strongest affirmation, is in 
the same strain : u Hath not God chosen the poor of 
this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom 
which he hath promised to them that love him." The 
poor arre exempted from many temptations and trials 
which beset the rich ; and the struggles which they 
have to make, the privations which they have to endure, 
and. the conflicts through which they have to pass, 
are calculated to produce in them the noblest ele- 
ments of character, to chasten, subdue, and purify 
their souls, and to lead them into the richest experi- 
ences of the things of God. Beneath the garb of 
poverty treasures more precious than gold are often 



MICHES IN POVERTY. 



93 



concealed. Spiritual princes walk the earth dis- 
guised as beggars. The world passes them by in 
contempt, but angels throng their paths. Men say, 
" They are poor;" but Christ says, I know their 
works, and their tribulations, and their poverty ; they 
are ricJi!' 

"If the end and the key of history," says Goldwin 
Smith, " is the formation of character by effort, the end 
and the key of history are the same with the end 
and key of the life of man. . . . Certainly, if we 
believe in a Creator, it is difficult to imagine him 
making such a world as this, with all its abysses of 
misery and crime, merely that some of his creatures 
might with infinite labor obtain a modicum of knowl- 
edge, which can be of use only in this world, and 
must come to nothing again when all is done. But 
if the formation of character by effort is the end, every 
thing has a meaning, every thing has a place." " Char- 
acter, indeed," he observes elsewhere, " seems to be 
the only thing, within the range of our comprehen- 
sion, for the sake of which we can conceive God hav- 
ing been moved to create man. . . . Our hearts 
acquiesce, too, in the dispensation which, instead of 
creating character in its perfection, leaves it to be 
perfected by effort. We can conceive no character 
in a created being, worthy of affection, which is not 
produced by a moral struggle; and, on the other 
hand, the greater the moral difficulties that have been 
overcome, the more worthy of affection does the 
character seem. Try to conceive a being created 
morally perfect without effort, you will produce a 
picture of insipidity which no heart can love." 

Now the trials of poverty are directly calculated 



94 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



to develop character. They demand effort, endur- 
ance, power of resistance, the grace of contentment, 
and every thing, in a word, which beautifies and 
aggrandizes character. They make the whole life a 
moral struggle ; and with the victory come strength, 
purity, the loftiest manhood, and the most radiant 
immortality. Through the discipline of such trials, 
by the help of God's grace, selfishness and Satan are 
overcome, and the kingdom of Christ is established 
in the soul. 

3. Poverty has its duties, and its possibilities of 
great achievement. 

The poor must help the poor, and furnish an ex- 
ample to the rich. It was Lady Maxwell who said 
that God had taught her, not only that her conveni- 
ences must give way toother people's necessities, but 
also her necessities to other people's extremities. 
And this grace need the poor. They must learn to 
do the little they can do, to yield their necessities to 
the extremities of those poorer than themselves. 
They must come to the apostle's measure, " As poor, 
yet making many rich." Those who have nothing, 
comparatively, must practice benevolence. In the 
old law it is written, " The poor shall not give less 
than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto 
the Lord ; " and Jesus taught that the poor widow 
who cast two mites into the treasury had cast in more 
than many rich, because, while they had cast in of 
their abundance, she had cast in all her living. It 
will often be the privilege of the poor thus to give 
their whole fortunes to God. And they will win, by 
such offerings and sacrifices, their proudest distinc- 
tions in the kingdom of Christ. 



POVEETY IN RICHES. 



95 



Blessed is that soul of whom Jesus shall say, " I 
know thy poverty, but thou art rich " — affluent in all 
spiritual things ; for spiritual riches are, after all, the 
most fruitful source of influence and power existing 
in this world. They insure access to God, and answer 
to prayer. They produce sanctity of character, and 
the outbeaming beauty of holiness. They create 
that sublime content and profound peace, in the midst 
of life's conflicts and trials, which is the mightiest 
argument ever addressed to the understanding of 
men in favor of the religion of Jesus. And they are 
of the nature of that treasure in heaven which will 
enrich the soul forever. 

" Of great riches," says Bacon, " there is no real 
use, except it be in the distribution ; the rest is but 
conceit. So saith Solomon : ' Where much is, there 
are many to consume it ; and what hath the owner, 
but the sight of it with his eyes ? ' The personal 
fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches ; 
there is a custody of them, or a power of dole and 
donative of them, or a fame of them ; but no solid 
use to the owner." 

Let us be grateful, then, that if God has not given 
us riches, neither has he made us responsible for the 
distribution of them ; and let us learn the sublime 
lesson that " godliness with contentment is great 
gain," and that he who is faithful in the least things, 
shall, by no means, lose his reward. 

•'Wliate'er our willing* bands can give, 

Lord at thy feet we lay ; 
Grace will the humble gift receive, 

And grace at length repay." 



96 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



X. 

THE INSPIRATION OF A GREAT PRESENCE. 

"I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." — 
Gen. xvii. 1. 

Whatever resources we may have within ourselves,, 
we are more or less affected by the presence and 
power of others. Great minds, especially, awe, ex- 
cite, and uplift our souls. The Infinite mind, there- 
fore, must be a source of unfailing life and inspiration. 
The divine presence must always be a quickening 
influence to creature capacities. " I am the Al- 
mighty God," or " God, all-sufficient," as Bush ren- 
ders the Hebrew. All life, power, blessing, complete- 
ness, fullness, are in him in infinite sufficiency ; so 
that he can perfectly satisfy all the necessities of his 
creatures, in all possible unfolding of their powers, 
and through the whole period of their duration. He 
is a God of rich, abundant and immeasurable 
resources. 

And God's first requirement is that we should dis- 
cern his presence, that we should set ourselves dili- 
gently to order our ways so as to please him, and that 
each one of his creatures should realize the poet's 
aspiration — 

"As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye." 

And in order that we may come to know him, God 



INSPIRATION OF A GREAT PRESENCE. 97 



has not only revealed himself in all his works, from 
every blade of grass and every flower beneath our feet 
to the fiery stars which glow resplendently in the 
heavens above our heads, but he has also wrought 
within us a quick and strong sense of the need of 
the infinite, so that our souls perpetually yearn for the 
unseen, the unattained, and the inexhaustible. 

Mrs. Livermore is said to be the author of these two 
memorable sentences: "A divine discontent must 
pursue all human lives ; " and " Life is lonely to every 
soul." And Dr. Thomas Chalmers, on one occasion, 
exclaimed, " What a wilderness this world is to the 
heart, with all it has to inspire happiness ; " and he 
adds, " What a marvelous solitude every man bears 
about him ; and then that other and mysterious seclu- 
sion, the intervening veil between us and the Deity." 
Now, who does not realize that there is something 
in the human soul which finds no creature companion- 
ship, and which therefore makes life lonely, even amid 
the throng of great cities, and excites that " discon- 
tent " of which Mrs. Livermore speaks ? How many 
idiosyncracies of life and eccentricities of conduct 
have their root in that " marvelous solitude every man 
bears about him," and into which the world cannot 
enter ? Did any one ever look at a flower, and think 
how it came up out of the cold earth, or gaze on the 
clayey yet lovely features of a dead child, marveling 
whither its little life had gone, without a certain sense 
of loneliness ? Can one behold the ocean in its 
vastness, or lose himself in the limitless prairie, or 
roam, in thought, through the infinite heavens, finding 
no bounds, and not be oppressed and overwhelmed ? 
The truth is, that in all our experiences of nature, of 



98 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



life, of death, we do constantly pass beyond the do- 
main of the finite, and come into a realm, vast, soli- 
tary, dreadful, except as it is -filled with the light and 
glory of the divine presence. To walk before God, 
then, in his conscious nearness, in the realization of 
his love, in the knowledge of his fatherly care and 
blessing, in the mysterious fellowship of his infinite 
nature, is to find a fullness, a companionship, and a 
sufficiency which nothing but the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ever makes a reality in any human ex- 
perience. Henceforth the solitude is filled by one 
glorious presence, and the loneliness is cheered by 
voices such as make melody in heaven. 

To those who walk before God, the uprightness, 
sincerity, and completeness which the Gospel requires, 
come to be realizations, almost in the way of natural 
consequences. That is, if one will set God always 
before him, he will be self-denying, honest, pure, 
devoted, even without deliberate determination. His 
sins and corruptions will fly the divine presence, as 
owls and bats the light of the sun. If the heaven of 
his soul glows with the manifest God, his virtues and 
graces will spring up like grass and flowers in the 
spring-time, and will come to ripeness and maturity, 
like the golden grain of summer. Integrity is what 
is required of us — that is, a whole and not a fractional 
life ; and, as Bush has said, " Integrity is true 
scriptural perfection, and without that every thing is 
defective, and all -profession vain." 

" Noah," we are told, " was a just man, and perfect 
in his generations, and Noah walked with God ; " and 
because he walked with God, he was just in char- 
acter, and perfect in his generation. His obedience 



INSPIRATION OF A GREAT PRESENCE. 99 

was not hypocritical, but sincere ; not partial, but 
complete ; not fitful, but constant ; not formal, but 
fervent ; not deficient, in a word, but perfect. And 
such is ever the character of the obedience inspired 
by the consciousness of the divine presence. 

Whedon, commenting on Matthew v, 48, " Be ye 
therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is 
perfect," says : " Neither St. Paul nor St. James ex- 
pected that the Christians they addressed would be 
perfect like angels, or even ideally perfect men; nor 
perfect performers of God's absolute law. But they 
did expect that the law of love might possess a perfect 
power in their hearts, and in that would consist the 
perfected character of their piety." And if the law of 
love — a law which lives and operates and governs 
only in the light and under the sanction of the recog- 
nized presence of God — does possess a perfect power 
in our hearts, then our repentance will be deep and 
thorough, and our abhorrence of sin strong and con- 
stant ; and then our consecration to Christ and his 
work will be complete and perpetual. It is reported 
of Charles XII., of Sweden, that, when he ascended 
the throne, he wrote on a map of Sweden : "God has 
given me this kingdom, and the devil shall not take 
it away from me." In like manner, we shall be able, 
if the law of love rules in our hearts, to write on 
body, soul, and possessions : " These are Christ's, 
and neither self nor Satan shall pervert them to base 
and unholy uses." Then, too, faith will grasp all the 
promises of the inspired word, and rely with fullest 
confidence on the covenant love of God. Then the 
choice of God's way and work will be cheerful and 
absolute. Then all malice will be expelled from the 



100 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



heart, and gentleness, kindness, forbearance, patience, 
and resignation will dwell there like angels. Then 
service and sacrifice for Jesus and his cause will be 
rather sought than shunned. Then hope will be 
exultant, the victory over sin and Satan constant, and 
the confident assurance of a final triumph over death 
and hell an abiding and glorious experience. 



THE PEBFEOT MAN. 



101 



XL 

THE PERFECT MAN. 

"If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." 
Jailes iii, 2. 

Behold, then, that rarest of sights, the completed 
Christian character. And what is, at once, the test 
and the proof of manhood's perfection ? A bridled 
tongue, a mouth in which there is no guile, that 
supreme knowledge and sanctity which "out of a good 
conversation " show forth " meekness of wisdom." 
Nor shall we marvel at this if we consider that the 
tongue of the unsanctified " is a fire, a world of ini- 
quity/' that " it setteth on fire the course of nature, and 
is set on fire of hell," that it is more untamable than 
any beast or serpent, that " it is an unruly evil full 
of deadly poison," and that it is impossible to estimate 
the waste and desolation which it has wrought in the 
earth. As the great ships " driven of fierce winds," so 
are the mightiest souls tempest-tossed and rudderless 
on life's ocean when speech is perturbed and passion- 
ate. As with a bit in a horse' s mouth, so does a 
wise man, by a godly restraint on his tongue, " bridle 
the whole body" of his life and conversation. 

The Psalmist characterizes the sinner as one 
" whose mouth speaketh vanity," and our Lord 
teaches that the soul is defiled by that "which 



102 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

cometh out of the mouth." " Not physical touch, 
but moral action," says Whedon, " makes a man 
truly impure before God." The irremissible sin 
against the Holy Ghost seems to be impossible 
without utterance. " Whosoever speaketh against the 
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 
this world, neither in the world to come." Of so 
great significance, in Scripture estimation, are words ! 
The bad feeling, the wicked disposition, the impious 
thought, must find expression in order to reach its 
consummation. The subjective must become the 
objective. The soul must body itself forth by speech, 
and behold its creation, and acknowledge it, and feel 
its retroactive influence and excitive power, and so 
become intensified in its feeling and purpose, before 
the moral quality reaches its highest type of sin or 
holiness. 

'The propriety of making an ability to keep the 
tongue under constant government a proof of per- 
fect Christian manhood is manifest from two con- 
siderations : 

i. The state of the appetites and passions is clear- 
ly indicated, on the whole, by the drift of our conver- 
sation. There may be deceit and hypocrisy, but the 
stream, however disguised, will not fail to exhibit 
the character of the fountain from which it flows. 
"The tongue," says Benson, "is an index of the 
heart, and he who does not transgress the law of 
truth, or love, or purity, or humility, or meekness, or 
patience, or seriousness, with his tongue, will, with the 
same grace, so rule all his dispositions and actions 
as to manifest that he has in him the mind that was 
in Christ, and walks as Christ walked." 



THE PERFECT MAX. 



103 



" The mouth of the righteous," says David, " speak- 
eth wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment ; " 
and he immediately adds, as a reason, " The law of 
God is in his heart ; " and the moral force within 
determines the wisdom and judgment with which he 
speaks. Moreover, David's King and Lord has as- 
serted the same general principle in the following- 
plain and unmistakable words : "A good man out 
of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that 
which is good ; and an evil man out of the evil treas- 
ure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil : 
for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketJi!' 
Our speech, therefore, bewrayeth us. Our words are 
exponents of our affections. And nothing will meet 
the exigencies of our spiritual state but that grace 
which, " casting down imaginations and every high 
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God," brings "into captivity every thought to the 
obedience of Christ." 

2. Our words are prophecies of our actions. The 
evil deed will not be performed if the speech can be 
restrained. He who can subdue the angry word will 
not strike the vengeful blow. The victory which we 
obtain over ourselves is complete when the tongue 
is bridled. In this triumph are the seeds of a thou- 
sand triumphs. Golden speech will fructify in golden 
deeds. When no corrupt communication proceeds 
out of our mouth, nothing but " that which is good to 
the use of edifying," and calculated to " minister grace 
unto the hearers," then we may be sure that in walk 
and conduct we shall be examples of purity, benefi- 
cence, and Christian consecration. Gracious words 
on the lips are the blossoms which indicate gracious 



104 SHORT SERMONS OX CONSECRATION 



seed in the heart and gracious fruitage in the life. 
" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all 
wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another, in 
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with 
grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever 
ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.'' 
Now observe that in this passage the word of Christ 
in the heart, the language of teaching, admonition, 
and praise on the lips, and the will of the Lord done 
in the whole ordering of the life, closely and beauti- 
fully correspond. If any one, therefore, "seem to 
be religious, and bridleth not his tongue," manifestly 
he "deceiveth his own heart." The finger of inspi- 
ration points at such a man derisively, as the Holy 
Oracle affirms for the instruction of mankind, " This 
maiis religion is vain? 

Speech, the crowning gift of God to man, is capa- 
ble of the grossest perversion and the most shameful 
abuse ; but it is also a weapon of great power. The 
lips of a good man are as honey and the honeycomb. 
They drop sw r eetness. They charm while they ad- 
monish, and they attract w r hile they rebuke. There 
are words of wisdom and faith which linger in our 
memories like the tones of bells which we heard in 
childhood. On words of prayer and sacred song we 
rise even to the golden gates of the New r Jerusalem. 
A sanctified speech is at once the proof and prophecy 
of Christ's kingdom in the world ; and not to stum- 
ble in word is the indisputable demonstration of the 
perfect man. 

It is a striking remark of the author of " Ecce Homo," 
that " The door of heaven, so to speak, can be opened 



THE PERFECT MAX. 



only from within." Whoever would speak the words 
of God must be consciously in the presence of God. 
The message of Jesus, to reach the hearts of men, 
must be delivered in the spirit of Jesus. A young 
minister said in a religious assembly, " There is an 
old gentleman present who gave out a hymn in a 
meeting which I attended, and during the reading of 
that hymn I was convinced of my sins and moved to 
seek the salvation of my soul." What sermon and 
prayer and exhortation had failed to accomplish, was 
thus mysteriously wrought. How evident that it was 
rather the manner than the matter of the perform- 
ance which produced the result ! The old gentleman 
opened the door of heaven from witkin y and so the 
common words of Christian song rang with the melo- 
dies of the celestial world. It was as if the familiar 
strain had been chanted with the accompanying notes 
of angels. Here is a great lesson to be mastered by 
Christian workers. They must stand inside the gates 
of the Xew Jerusalem, while they proclaim the words 
of life to the weary wanderers who are far off in sin 
and misery. Thus the commonest speech will be 
instinct with divine love, and will charm and attract 
with a strange eloquence. There is a touch of ten- 
derness, a melting of compassion, a yearning of sym- 
pathy which is not taught by art, which is never 
learned from books, which is not the gift of genius, 
and which cannot be acquired in the schools, but 
which comes inevitably with the glowing realizations 
of Christian experience. There is no eloquence like 
that which blazes forth from the hidden fires of a 
sanctified soul. There is no logic like the logic of a 
holy heart. There is no argument like that which 



I06 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



Christ has inspired by his presence. There is no 
such language of persuasion as that which has been 
learned in view of the cross and the saintly Sufferer. 

How, my brethren, can we tell of the sweetness of 
the heavenly manna, except we have the taste of it 
in our mouths ? It is said of the evangelical 
M'Cheyne, whose pulpit was such a throne of power, 
that " he fed on the Word, not in order to prepare 
himself for his people, but for personal edification." 
And yet no technical preparation for lecture or sermon 
could have been worth so much to his hearers as 
this constant communion of his own soul with the 
precious truth of God's word. Personal edification is, 
in its results, Church edification also. If fountains of 
salvation are unsealed in our souls, some beneficent 
streams will flow forth to gladden the weary wastes 
of lives blasted by sin, and to refresh the spirits of 
saints whose lips are feverish with desire for the 
waters of life. 

" Not the words he spoke," says the biographer of 
M'Cheyne, "but the holy manner in which he spoke, 
was the chief means in arresting souls." Now it is not 
within the reach of many of us to speak words of ex-* 
traordinary eloquence and power, but all . of us can 
speak in a gracious manner, with a holy earnestness, 
and with evident sincerity and fervor of desire. The 
richest gifts of heaven are the commonest — the most 
attainable. The highest endowment for a Christian 
worker is a genuine, irrepressible love of souls ; 
and tender concern for the perishing, jealous regard 
for Christ's cause, fullness of consecration to the work 
of an evangelist, and longing desires for the prosper- 
ity of Zion, are sources of influence and power which 



THE PERFECT MAN. 



107 



are freely dispensed at a throne of grace by the mu- 
nificent Head of the Church. This precious baptism 
all of us may receive who wait and long for it. 

In Rutherford's " Rules of Holy Living," the very 
first is, " That hours of the day, less or more time, for 
the word and prayer, be given to God." Was it not 
in those " hours " that he learned the freedom, sweet- 
ness, and strength of Christ's love ? Hear him ex- 
claim, as he comes from his place of holy communion, 
" How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand ; 
as little am I able to take away of my great Sea, my 
boundless and running-over Christ Jesus ! " It is not 
a strange thing that a minister who felt that Christ's 
love was an inexhaustible sea, and that it was bound- 
less and running over in the experience of his soul, 
should have that tender yearning for the unsaved, 
leading him to affirm, " I would lay my dearest joys 
in the gap between you and eternal destruction. My 
witness is in heaven, your heaven would be two heav- 
ens to me, and your salvation two salvations." And 
it is not strange that this inside touch should have 
opened the gates of heaven to many perishing souls. 

And what w r e most need in our great life business 
of finding sinners and bringing them to Jesus, is not, 
perhaps, more ability or better appliances, but the 
advantage of position. We need to stand where we 
can open the door of heaven from the inside. Then 
the light will stream forth to illumine the darkness 
of sin and unbelief ; and then voices, terrible as the 
thunders of the Apocalypse, but sweet as those which 
announced a Saviours birth, will startle and charm the 
sinner's heart, and multitudes will be led to accept 
life and salvation. 



108 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XII. 

PURPOSE OF HEART. 

" Who, when he came and had seen the grace of G-od, was glad, and 
exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto 
the Lord." — Acts ii, 23. 

Greatheart is one of the noblest conceptions of 
Bunyan's genius. He was a hero of the grandest 
type, incapable of fear or discouragement. He was 
the helper and deliverer of all weak and imperiled 
Pilgrims. It was Greatheart who cheered and guided 
the timorous women and children, who defied the 
lions, and who struck down Giant Grim with a great 
blow, despite his hideous roaring and bloody threats. 
Greatheart, in a word, was always valiant, and was 
always a conqueror. He led the Pilgrims to the 
Palace Beautiful, and he conducted their trembling 
steps through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 
No man has ever come, with songs of Christian joy 
and triumph, to the gates of the Celestial City with- 
out his aid. 

It shows how deeply Bunyan had drunk from the 
fountains of Inspiration, and how genuine and 
thorough had been his Christian experience, that he 
makes Greatheart not only a source of consolation, 
but also of strength and victory. Power and prev- 
alence in the religious life come not of the brain but 
of the heart. Hence the Psalmist exclaims : " Thou 



PUBPOSE OF HEABT. 1 09 

hast proved my heart ; thou hast visited me in the 
night ; thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing ; I 
am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." 
And this purpose, which embodies victory, was born 
of the visitation of the heart — of its trials and proof, 
under searching and solemn circumstances. It had 
its deep root in purified affections. 

In like manner, we are told, when Barnabas visited, 
with apostolic authority, the infant Church at An- 
tioch, and saw the grace of God and was glad, he ex- 
horted them all "that with purpose of heart they 
would cleave unto the Lord." The genitive of the 
noun in regimen has here, as often, according to 
Bloomfield, the force of an adjective, and signifies 
" with hearty and determined purpose and intent ; " 
and with such purpose or determination of heart the 
apostle moves these believers to cleave unto the 
Lord, clinging unto him with affectionate regard ; 
" for the original word," continues Bloomfield, " signi- 
fies properly to remain by, and, with a dative of a 
thing, to persevere in, but with that of a person, to 
continue attached to! 1 Or, as Dr. Clarke expresses 
it, " To be a Christian is to be united with Christ, to 
be of one spirit with him : to continue to be a Chris- 
tian is to continue in that union. It is absurd to 
talk of being children of God, and of absolute, final 
perseverance, when the soul has lost its spiritual 
union ; there is no perseverance but in clinging to the 
Lord!' 

But this affectionate clinging unto the Lord is only 
realized when there is a purpose in the soul, which 
wells up from the great deep of the affections ; or, 
in other words, it is the purpose of the heart which 



I IO SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



secures practical perseverance in the Christian 
life. 

The will is the regal faculty in the human consti- 
tution. Men are not saved by their understandings 
or their affections, except they will to be saved. 
Knowledge, desire, conviction of duty, sense of need, 
fear of loss, nor all of them, will bring a man to 
Christ- When he says, from the very throne of his 
being, " I will arise and go to my Father," then the 
mighty transformation begins. And the light which 
the Holy Spirit sheds on the understanding, the 
sense of guilt which it excites in the conscience, the 
deep spiritual necessities which it discloses to the soul, 
and the clearness with which it reveals the path of 
duty, interest, and happiness, are only so many argu- 
ments for that supreme decision of the will, which, 
more than any thing else, governs conduct, deter- 
mines character, and shapes destiny. God works in 
us to will and to do — that is, to lead us to decide and 
act — in order that his good pleasure may be accom- 
plished in our salvation. 

But how shall the soul be kept up to its high pur- 
pose. ? There is opposition to meet, a warfare to 
wage, discouragement to be overcome, painful and 
protracted duties to be discharged, and a great life- 
work for immortality to be accomplished. Can one 
constantly review the grounds of his decision ? Can 
he consider perpetually the great argument for recti- 
tude and a holy life ? Can one, by strength of pur- 
pose, walk every moment as in eternity ? Powerful - 
as is the will, it must have supports. It does not act 
capriciously and tyrannically. Its throne of dominion 
must have some adequate basis. There must be some 



PURPOSE OF HEART. 



reason for its decisions, or they will not stand. Espe- 
cially is this the case in the religious life, because the 
will is weak in that which is good, being touched like 
every other faculty of our being with the blight of 
depravity. 

Now it may be said that there are many things to 
hold the will to its high purpose of loyalty to heaven 
and service to man. There are duty, right, interest, 
happiness, obligations assumed, the fear of condemna- 
tion, and the hope of heaven. But the trouble is, that 
these are things which have to be kept in mind, and 
just at the moment when we most^need to remember 
them they are forgotten. It is not thus with the 
purpose of the heart. That is our life. The inspira- 
tion of our love is an abiding power. The chief 
affection makes the soul's atmosphere. The patriot 
does not need the great argument for patriotism 
resting on duty, obligations incurred, and interests in- 
volved, to move him to the front when his country is 
in peril. He loves his country, cherishes its institu- 
tions, and hopes for its future, and that love deter- 
mines his purpose and conduct. The child does not 
need to say, "I am under obligation to my parents, I 
owe them every thing, and it will be a -shame if I do 
not honor and obey them." The truth rather is, that 
the filial affection governs the child unconsciously. 
Because it loves, it chooses, constantly, the very things 
which its parents choose for it. And so obedience is 
not a yoke, service is not a burden, and the loving 
child is not duty's slave. 

And thus it is with a genuine Christian life. It is 
an exalted patriotism, an experience of filial love, a 
loyal attachment, kindling to an ardor of enthusiasm, 



112 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



for a Prince and Saviour whom we have enthroned 
in our hearts. The Christian man not only says, 

"Let thy will, not mine, be done," 

but also, 

" Let thy will and mine be one ; " 

and in this oneness of purpose, this communion of soul, 
this perpetual choosing of Christ, as a bride chooses 
perpetually her husband and lord, he finds the 
grandest realizations of life and the surest pledge of 
immortality. 



SALVATION. 



113 



XIII. 

SALVATION THROUGH GOD'S FORBEARANCE. 

" And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." 
2 Pet. iii. 15. 

It is not only true that there is wickedness in the 
world, but also that in many cases it is long-continued 
and prosperous. " Doth God know ? " is the exultant 
infidel inquiry. Does he concern himself in regard 
to human interests ? Does he hear the sighs of the 
oppressed ? Does he consider the ignorance, super- 
stition, poverty, and wretchedness which are in the 
world ? In one word, what is the meaning of the 
divine forbearance? There is no question in regard 
to the fact. God bears long with men. He is slow 
to anger. " Forbearance," according to Macknight, 
"is that disposition in God by which he restrains 
himself from instantly punishing sinners." But why 
does he restrain himself? These mockers, described 
in the context, said that the divine delay meant slack- 
ness ; but the apostle insists that its significance is 
salvation. They said, " Where is the promise of his 
coming?" " And scoffers, walking after their own 
lusts," have kept up the refrain to the present hour, 
shouting incessantly, " All things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation," and affirming 
vehemently, " God is not observant of these matters, 



114 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



and it is safe to live in sin and for the rewards of 
pleasure and power." The apostle, on the other 
hand, is bold to declare, "The Lord is not slack con- 
cerning his promise, as some men count slackness," 
and "the day of the Lord will come" in which 
every earthly possession will perish, and there will be 
"a day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men ; " 
and there is no wisdom or safety but in " all holy 
conversation and godliness," and no inheritance in 
the new earth and heavens, " wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness," except for such as are found of him " in 
peace without spot and blameless." 

Because judgment against an evil work is not 
executed speedily, men conclude, in numerous in- 
stances, that it will not be executed at all. They 
despise the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, 
and long-suffering, which are designed to lead them 
sweetly, but effectually,' to repentance and a life of 
holiness, by making it an excuse for continuance in 
sin, and so treasuring up unto themselves wrath 
against the day of wrath and the revelation of the 
righteous judgment of God. " By goodness," says 
Bengel, " God restrains his wrath ; by forbearance, 
he keeps himself, as it were, unknown until he is 
revealed ; by long-suffering, he delays his righteous 
judgment." But it is certainly a great abuse of the 
divine mercy to suppose that this hiding of his power, 
and restraint upon his wrath, and slowness to punish, 
mean indulgence of sin, laxity of government, disre- 
gard of the ends of justice, and indifference to the 
facts of human condition. Let us rather conclude 
that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. " Reck- 
on, as you justly may," says Bloomfield, "that this 



SALVATION. 



long-extended waiting and forbearance of the Lord is 
meant to be our salvation ; that is, to promote it, by 
giving us opportunity for working it out!' By the 
use of all moral means and spiritual persuasives, in 
infinite forbearance and love, the Lord would lead us 
to repentance and the formation of holy characters. 
His long-suffering is gracious, designed to give us 
space and opportunity to escape from sin and con- 
demnation, to prepare for the solemn scenes of judg- 
ment and retribution, and to grow up into his image 
and the fellowship of his love. The result will be, if 
our opportunities are properly improved, the salva- 
tion of our own souls, and the salvation, through our 
instrumentality, of the souls of many others. This is 
in accordance with the whole scheme of redemption. 
Jesus Christ is set forth, as a propitiation, to declare 
the divine righteousness for the remission of sins 
through the forbearance of God. And it is through 
this forbearance, through the space allotted for re- 
pentance and for the remedial agencies of the Gospel, 
that the just God is enabled to become the justifier 
of the believer in Christ. 

The God of Israel proclaimed himself unto Moses 
as "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- 
suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keep- 
ing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the 
guilty." Again and again is it declared that this 
God, " full of compassion and gracious, long-suffer- 
ing and plenteous in mercy and truth," will, though 
he delay long, most assuredly mark every offense 
against his character and government, and over- 
whelm with his wrath the finally impenitent and 



1 1 6 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



incorrigible. " The long-suffering of God waited in 
the days of Noah ; " but the delay was not slackness, 
or remissness in the divine government. The patri- 
arch, believing in God's word, and having faith's 
vision of things " not seen as yet," " condemned the 
world," while he became himself an heir of the right- 
eousness which is by faith. 

The forbearance of God is not, therefore, any just 
ground for continuance in sin. It is no encourage- 
ment to impurity and rebellion. On the contrary, it 
is the highest dissuasive. Terrible must be the anger 
of infinite Love when it shall finally blaze forth to con- 
sume the sinner ! Fearful beyond expression is the 
wrath of incensed holiness ! When the forbearance 
and long-suffering of God, provoked and outraged 
by persistent impenitence, made an excuse for high- 
handed wickedness, and abused and insulted by a 
scoffing infidelity, shall at last arise for judgment 
and vindication, inconceivably awful must be the 
doom of its blasted and helpless victims ! 

The forbearance of God is the ground of our hope 
of life and salvation. But for his long-suffering 
mercy we should long since have perished. May 
that forbearing goodness lead us to repentance ! May 
it melt our hearts into genuine contrition ! May it 
lead us now r to turn unto him with full purpose of 
soul ! 

The forbearance which God shows to us, we ought, 
in our poor measure, to show to our fellow-men. If 
we have the genuine Christian spirit we shall bear 
much with men, and through many weary years, in 
order to secure their salvation. By long-suffering, 
as well as by pureness, knowledge, and love unfeigned, 



SALVATIOK 



117 



do we commend the grace of God. Goodness, faith, 
meekness, temperance, are not more certainly the 
fruit of the Spirit. We must reprove, rebuke, exhort ; 
but with all long-suffering and doctrine. 

In all this Jesus is our perfect example. He 
endured the cross, despising the shame, in order to 
the salvation of a perishing race. He carries our 
griefs and is touched with all our sorrows, when we 
enter into his spirit and reproduce his life of minis- 
tering and forbearing love. May he fill us with his 
grace, and make us his messengers to the world ! 



Il8 SHOBT SEBMOXS ON CONSECRATION. 



XIV. 

THE PERFECTION Or BEAUTY. 

"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shinedV' — Psa. 1. 2. 

God himself is the standard of all excellence. There 
can be no higher reason for a certain type of charac- 
ter than that God has chosen that type of character. 
There can be no completer justification of any course 
of conduct than that it is in accordance with the 
divine mind. In every respect, theologically, spirit- 
ually, and esthetically, God is the standard. Whatso- 
ever things are true, just, good, honest, lovely, worthy 
of admiration and praise, are so because of their har- 
mony with the nature, choice, purpose, and delight of 
the infinite Mind. All the elements of beauty, as 
they are stated by Ruskin, exist in perfection in the 
divine Being. In him is infinity, comprehensive 
unity, sublime and eternal repose, perfect symmetry, 
living, energetic, spiritual purity, and that absolute 
self-completeness which in its lower forms, in men, 
is revealed as equipoise, moderation, restraint, and 
superiority to passion, pride, or changefulness. Com- 
pleteness is, beyond all question, the crowning ele- 
ment in beauty. And this supposes not only the 
perfection of every part, function, and quality, but also 
incapacity of growth, accretion, or development in the 
future, or under any other circumstances. That only 



THE PERFECTION OF BEAUTY. 



II 9 



is entirely beautiful which can be no more so, by any 
possibility, through any change, combination, unfold- 
ing, or revealment. God is the supreme loveliness. 
He can never be any more beautiful than he is at 
this moment, and has been from eternity. But all 
creatures, enjoying his presence and having a dis- 
cernment of his excellences, will discover more and 
more of his infinite beauty, and will have increasing 
satisfaction in the grandeur and glory of his char- 
acter, through the eternal ages. 

To dwell in the house of the Lord ail the days 
of his life, that he might behold, as revealed in his 
sanctuary, the beauty of the Lord, was, in the estima- 
tion of the Psalmist, the one grand object of life and 
endeavor. Nothing so purifies, quickens, exalts, and 
ennobles the human soul as such visions of the 
beauty, the infinite loveliness, of the divine nature. 
The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness — 
wholeness ; truth, purity, integrity, without any devi- 
ation or deficiency. 

This infinite beauty is indescribable — inconceiv- 
able. If, as Rutherford says, " the discourses of 
angels, or love-books written by the congregation of 
seraphim," would not suffice to tell the love of Christ, 
then who shall picture, by word or symbol, that fault- 
less loveliness which is the splendor and glory of the 
adorable Jehovah ? 

And yet it is said, u Thine eyes shall see the King 
in his beauty," and, " In that day shall the Lord 
of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of 
beauty, unto the residue of his people." " Blessed 
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The 
extent and clearness of our vision of the Infinite One 



120 SHOBT SERMON'S ON CONSECRATION 



will depend on the measure of our spiritual purity 
and love. "The belief of truth," says Bacon, "is the 
enjoying of it ; " and the discovery and enjoyment 
of the celestial beauty of our divine King will closely 
correspond. If we find satisfaction in God, and love 
to meditate on his goodness, we shall, with growing 
distinctness, discern "how excellent is his name in 
all the earth." A man, as Emerson argues, " in pro- 
portion to the energy of his thought and will, takes 
tip the world into himself." He possesses so much 
of earth and sky as he is able to appropriate. No 
man is charmed by voices which he does not hear, or 
enraptured by visions which he does not see, albeit 
the air may throb with melody, and the heavens glow 
with beauty. And there are men who are esthetically 
atheists — without God. Having eyes, they do not 
see ; and having ears, they do not hear ; and having 
hearts, they do not perceive, nor understand. The 
beauty of the Lord is nothing to them. They have 
no vision of faith which is as the breaking of the 
morning. And they have no revelation of God as a 
crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. How inval- 
uable that spiritual energy of thought and will which 
seizes on God, and, in some poor sense, takes him 
in, makes him the portion and delight of the soul, 
and exults in him as "a joy forever!" 

'•I would not ask to climb the sky, 

Nor envy angels their abode ; 
I have a heaven as bright and high 

In the blest vision of my God! " 

Zion is declared to be " the perfection of beauty," 
because, as Home observes, " There that glory first 
arose and shone which, like the light of heaven, soon 



THE PEBFEGTION OF BE A TJTY. 



121 



diffused itself abroad over the face of the whole 
earth." It is God in the Church which makes the 
Church beautiful and glorious, and that despite pov- 
erty, persecution, and reproach. When Sir Harry 
Vane was dragged up the Tower Hill, sitting on a 
sled, to suffer death, as the champion of English laws 
and liberties, one of the multitude cried out to him, 
" You never sat on so glorioiis a seat ! " It was the 
cause which he represented that made his humble 
seat glorious ; and it is the cause which she repre- 
sents, and the wonderful Being who has chosen her 
as a dwelling-place, which lead men to exclaim, 
" The perfection of beauty ! the joy of the whole 
earth ! " " The glory of Lebanon," God said of Zion, 
"shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and 
the box together, to beautify the place of my sanc- 
tuary ; and I will make the place of my feet glorious!' 
"Beautiful for situation" is "the city of our God, the 
mountain of his holiness." 

" Churches exist in this world," says Froude, " to 
remind us of the eternal laws which we are bound 
to obey. So far as they do this, they fulfill their 
end, and are honored in fulfilling it." 

And Churches which do not remind men of the 
eternal laws of this spiritual kingdom, fail to accom- 
plish the object for which Jesus Christ instituted his 
Church in the. world. They may have a grand his- 
toric record, venerable traditions, an imposing ritual, 
an orthodox faith, and a position of high culture and 
great social respectability ; and yet be without that 
measure of moral power and spiritual energy which 
are the only infallible tests of a true Church of Jesus 
Christ. " We are the circumcision," says Paul, 



122 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



" which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in 
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 
In the position, influence, and history of such a 
Church, the prayer of the Psalmist will certainly be 
answered : " Let thy work appear unto thy servants, 
and thy glory unto their children. And let the 
beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish 
thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work 
of our hands, establish thou it." 



WELLS WITHOUT WATER. 123 



XV. 

, WELLS WITHOUT WATER. 



''These are wells without water."— 2 Pet. ii, 17. 

The Lord complains of his ancient people, by the 
prophet, " They have forsaken me, the fountain of 
living waters ; " and Jesus declares of the soul en- 
riched by his grace, "The water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." The Psalmist, lifting his longing 
soul to the Father of all goodness, exclaims, " All my 
springs are in thee." Every stream which gladdens 
life flows from the infinite Fountain. The Lord 
Jehovah is the strength, the trust, and the song of 
his people ; therefore, with joy shall they draw water 
out of the wells of salvation. The old prophetic 
promise to such as perform the fast which the Lord 
hath chosen, and accomplish in the earth the benefi- 
cent work of the Gospel, is, " The Lord shall guide 
thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, 
and make fat thy bones ; and thou shalt be like a 
watered garden, and like a spring of water whose 
waters fail not." Joel predicted that a fountain 
should come forth from the house of the Lord — an 
inexhaustible spring of happiness and prosperity 
from the divine presence. And with this accords 



124 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



Christ's promise, that the Holy Spirit in the soul of 
a believer should be as rivers of living water. And 
the assurance which the Son of God sends, ringing 
like an anthem of celestial music, down from heaven, 
as the Apocalyptic vision closes, is in the same ex- 
alted strain : " I will give unto him that is athirst of 
the fountain of the water of life freely." To which 
we may add the words descriptive of the supreme 
happiness of the saints, as they stand, in their stain- 
less robes, in the place of loftiest vision, "The lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, 
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters ; " 
or, as Bengel renders, to " the life-water fountains " — 
infinite depths of life and joy. 

In our present experience, therefore, and in our 
prospective reward, the Holy Spirit is a fountain of 
life to our souls, full of inspiration and refreshment. 

"The well of life to us thou art — 

Of joy the swelling flood ; 
Wafted by thee, with willing heart 

We swift return to G-od. 

1 We soon shall reach the boundless sea ; 

Into thy fullness fall ; 
Be lost and swallowed up in thee — 
Our God, our All in all." 

What, then, are we to understand by wells without 
water, and clouds driven by the tempests, but Chris- 
tians who promise by their professions what they 
do not supply in their lives, disappointing just and 
reasonable expectations ? " A most lively compar- 
ison/' says Bloomfield, " to designate the persons in 
question as promising much, but constantly disap- 



WELLS WITHOUT WATER. 



125 



pointing expectation ; specious but deceiving, as wells 
destitute of water, and clouds which bring no rain ; 
than which no disappointment can, in Eastern coun- 
tries, be greater ; and of which the former some- 
times not merely disappoint, but lure travelers to 
destruction." 

" Wells without water ; " such are destitute of spir- 
itual life, although they have come into nominal rela- 
tions with Christ and his Church. There are two 
classes of these — hypocrites and backsliders. The 
former are like wax flowers, vainly striving to repre- 
sent an inimitable original ; the latter are the genuine 
blossoms, dried and withered, reminding us of a 
fragrance and beauty which have hopelessly departed. 
The form of godliness is maintained, sentiments of 
piety are cherished, orthodoxy in belief is zealously 
upheld, and the garb of a respectable godliness is 
ostentatiously flaunted in the face of the world ; but 
the power of faith, the warmth of love, the sincerity 
and earnestness of desire for the salvation of souls, 
the tender concern for Christ's cause which weeps 
over the desolations of Zion, the spirit of consecration 
and sacrifice, and that fullness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Christ which overflows to a perishing race, 
near and remote, even to the ends of the earth — 
these are unknown or forgotten experiences. And 
yet, as Bishop Foster has observed, "it is holi- 
ness, not the profession of it, that will give us influ- 
ence both with God and men ; winging our prayers 
with faith and our counsels with power, deriving 
power from above, and sending out from us currents 
of power through the earth. * God in us, the hope 
of glory/ shining out in the even and resplendent 



126 SHOBT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



beauty of a holy life, will give us, unperceived, it may 
be, and unknown to ourselves, an influence which 
will draw many after us, to brighten in our crown of 
rejoicing forever." 

" Wells without water ; " such were these teachers, 
comments Macknight, " wholly void of knowledge." 
And how could they teach what they did not know ? 
How can those break the bread of life to others who 
have not themselves been fed ? Every genuine 
Christian is a prophet, that is, a teacher of righteous- 
ness. He knows something which he has received 
directly from the great Head of the Church. He is 
a witness to the saving power of divine grace. He 
has proved the sufficiency of the Gospel for the re- 
mission of sins and the sanctification of the soul. 
He can take any trembling sinner by the hand and 
lead him to Jesus. He can teach the great lessons 
of repentance, faith, and trust in God's promises. He 
is a guide to the blind, and a light to those who are 
in darkness. He has not learned speculative divinity, 
it may be, or the theology of the schools ; but he has 
heard the voice of the Spirit, he has apprehended the 
plain teachings of the inspired word, and he has 
proved, by his experience, the power of prayer, the 
excellence of worship, and the beauty of the way of 
holiness. Those who call themselves by the Chris- 
tian name, and yet are without this knowledge, or in- 
capable of imparting its savor of life to others, are 
" wells without water." Such Christians and Chris- 
tian Churches are like the mirage of the desert, which 
gladden the eves of travelers with visions of refresh- 
ing waters, but furnish for their parched lips no joy- 
ous streams. 



WELLS WITHOUT WATER. 



127 



" Wells without water ;" having the form but lack- 
ing the power of godliness. Alas, how many march 
under the banner of Christ who lack that divine ear- 
nestness of soul which brought" our Lord from heaven, 
and which, to a greater or less extent, characterizes 
all his genuine followers ! What we chiefly need is 
that white heat of enthusiasm, which rather burns 
than glows, which makes us restless with desire to 
work for Jesus, and which, whether we purpose it or 
not, flames forth, like the morning, on the darkness 
of the world. 

"Wells without water;" such are all who lack 
true beneficence of life. If the soul be a fountain of 
love, it will overflow in genuine charity to the bodies 
and souls of all who need. If Christ dwells in his 
saints it is as a well of water, or, as the word means, 
an up-springing fountain, and it cannot be shut up 
in its own narrow bounds, but out-gushes with life 
and love, irrigating and gladdening all earth's desert 
wastes. A genuine Christian experience is as the 
sea, reaching to all shores, fresh, flowing, and forever. 

" Christ," says the author of " Ecce Homo," "held 
that a despicable Christianity which flung to the poor 
some unregarded superfluity : he valued more the 
mite which the widow spared out of her poverty ; " 
and the same writer argues that the most effective 
means of Christian propagandism was found in the 
fact that " there worked within the Church, and 
outward round its whole circumference, the living, 
diffusive, assimilative power of the Christian Hu- 
manity." And this large, uncalculating beneficence 
has, in every age, characterized the Church of Jesus 
Christ in the earth. That Church is not only an 



128 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

organization for conquest, but also an institution of 
benevolence. If it carries in one hand the sword 
of the Spirit, and in the other the torch of truth, its 
bosom is filled with loaves for the perishing, and joys 
bloom along its onward and triumphant march, as 
flowers in the pathway of Spring. 

"We dwell far from the well," says Rutherford, 
"and complain but dryly of our dryness:" no marvel, 
then, that we become as " wells without water." But 
with Jesus is "the fountain of life," and we shall act 
wisely if we sing the song which Israel sang, "Spring 
up, O well/' till the Lord God shall bring us " into a 
good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains 
and depths." 

"With me, I know, I feel, thou art; 

But this cannot suffice, 
Unless thou plantest in my heart 

A constant paradise. 

My earth thou wat'rest from on high — 

But make it all a pool : 
Spring up, Well. I ever cry; 

Spring up within my soul. 

Come, my God, thyself reveal; 

Fill all this mighty void : 
Thou only canst my spirit fill ; 

Come, my G-od, my G-od! " 

But to prayer must be added Christian activity. 
It is the workers in the Lord's vineyard who are 
most abundantly refreshed with the streams of life 
and salvation. And the gifts of grace which earnest 
Christians impart to others, do, by no means, impov- 
erish their own souls. Then go, break thy bread to 
the hungry, and point a lost world to its Redeemer, 



WELLS WITHOUT WATER. 



129 



and thou shalt receive, irf largest measure, the " gift 
of God," the living water which satisfies the thirsty 
soul, forever. 

"Work for the good that is nighest, 

Dream not of greatness afar ; 
That glory is ever the highest 

Which shines upon men as they are. 
"Work, though the world would defeat you, 

Heed not its slander and scorn; 
Nor weary till angels shall greet you 

With smiles through the gates of the morn. 

" Offer thy life on the altar ; 

In the high purpose be strong; 
And if the tired spirit should falter, 

Then sweeten thy labor with song. 
"What if the poor heart complaineth, 

Soon shall its wailing be o'er ; 
For there, in the rest which remaineth, 

It shall grieve and be weary no more." 
9 



130 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XVI. 

THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH. 

i; Until the day break and the shadows flee away. I will get me to 
the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense." — Can. iv. 6. 

The purpose expressed in this passage, if literally 
interpreted, is to pass the night-watches in the fra- 
grant mountains, from whose odoriferous trees myrrh 
and incense were extracted. Metaphorically, it con- 
veys the idea of charming privacy, delightful com- 
munion, and perfect content and satisfaction, till the 
shadows of night shall flee away, and the beams of 
the Orient golden the heavens. A night in the 
mountain of myrrh and in the hill of frankincense is 
a night of wakefulness and watchfulness, in prayer 
and holy fellowship with the Redeemer and Lover 
of our souls. Perfumes afforded great refreshment to 
the inhabitants of the east, and so naturally came to 
express, in a figurative way, whatever was pleasing to 
the mind or enrapturing to the soul. They soothed, 
excited, and gratified the weary senses with aromatic 
odors, so that rest, stimulation, and recovered strength 
were possible to the exhausted body. Any thing, 
therefore, producing a corresponding effect on mind 
or heart — comforting, inspiriting, arousing to con- 
tinued exertion, and brin°;in°;, mediatelv, fresh vi°;or 
to the prostrated powers, and increased energy for 



THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH. 



131 



life's conflicts, may be tropically described as a 
mountain of myrrh and a hill of frankincense. 

For the Christian, this mountain of myrrh and hill 
of frankincense is his place of secret prayer — of in- 
tercourse and communion with the God and Rock 
of his salvation. Here he is rested, quieted in spirit, 
strengthened, aroused to fresh activities, comforted 
as a mother comforteth her child, exalted by con- 
templation of the Highest and Holiest, and prepared 
for the duties, trials, and combats which await him 
in life. 

We read of our divine Master, not only that he 
was often " alone praying," but that "he withdrew 
himself into the wilderness and prayed," and that 
going up into a mountain for that specific purpose 
he " continued all night in prayer to God." And, on 
another occasion, " rising up a great while before day, 
he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and 
there prayed." " The day after the Sabbath," says 
YYhedon, "He retired from the crowds to find a place 
of prayer. It was as if to recruit his spiritual 
strength, that had been expended upon such a num- 
ber of miracles, preachings, and debates, by communion 
with God!' He went from the city to the mountain, 
from the thronged ways to the solitary places, from 
intercourse with man to fellowship with God. It was 
not the forgiveness of sins which he craved, or purg- 
ing from corruption, or a fuller consecration, or a 
larger baptism of the Spirit ; for there was no guile 
in his heart or life, and he had said, " Lo, glad I 
come to do thy will, O God," and the Holy Spirit 
was not given by measure unto him ; but, turning 
for a season from throngs, and duties, and miracu- 



132 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



lous works, he sought the fullness of his Father's 
presence, undisturbed contemplation of the infinite 
perfections, and all " the silent heaven of love," in 
closest communion with its chosen object. What a 
mountain of myrrh, and what a hill of frankincense, 
were those lofty Galilean ranges, when turned into 
temples and oratories by the immaculate Son of 
God ! And if He who was without sin, " the prime 
and blossom of our race," needed such privacy of re- 
ligious worship, such undisturbed and protracted 
fellowship with the Father, such early-morn and all- 
night seasons of prayer, how much greater is our 
necessity, who have been weakened, corrupted, and 
darkened in- our spiritual vision, by transgression ? 

I make no argument for secret prayer. It is en- 
joined directly and emphatically in the Scriptures ; 
it is sanctioned by the highest examples, even that 
of the Son of God himself; it has been practiced by 
good men in every age of the Church, and it is an in- 
dispensable necessity to the devout soul. No man has 
ever maintained a Christian experience without it. 
Its obligation and expediency are things not to be 
questioned, among the followers of Jesus. 

That for which I plead is purposed, prolonged com- 
munion with God. No soul is so self-complete or 
self-contained, or so richly furnished in creature as- 
sociations, or has such princely opportunities for ren- 
dering adoration and homage to God in a public way, 
as not to need altar-places for sacrifice and prayer, 
where the worship is solitary, except as angels throng 
the spot, and God's presence makes it as the gates of 
heaven. Every Christian must have, in order to over- 
come the world, the corrupt tendencies of his own 



THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH. 



133 



fallen nature and the power of the prince of dark- 
ness — in order to growth in grace, the enrichment of 
his soul in spiritual things and sufficiency of wisdom 
and strength to meet the high responsibilities im- 
posed on him, his mountain of myrrh and hill of 
frankincense. 

It is the place of refreshment, enlargement, and 
triumph. " So, Mrs. Kitty, my dear," says Betty in the 
diary of Mrs. Trevylyan, " I'll leave you alone with 
Him. You'll find it better ; for all the great fights, 
it's my belief, have got to be fought out alone with the 
Almighty. And you'll find, when you kneel down 
and give yourself up to him heartily, that you don't 
want any more promises than He has given — not one. 
For all the words in the world end somewhere, and 
leave something they cannot reach ; but the love of 
the Lord ends nowhere, but flows right down to the 
bottom of every trouble/' This is the experience of 
all those who dwell in the secret place of the Most 
High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
God is to them a rock and a fortress and a hiding- 
place, a shield and buckler, an all-sufficient portion. 
" It is not years or griefs," some one has said, " that 
make us old, nor poverty that makes us poor ; but 
looking down instead of up, and being shut up alone 
with self instead of with God." O, it is dreadful to 
be shut up alone with self, to the exclusion of God's 
creatures, even the meanest, or, worse still, of God 
himself ! It is poverty, barrenness of soul, desolation, 
death. But to be shut up with God ! That shames 
selfishness out of sight, rebukes worldliness and 
shows the tinsel and nothingness of its gifts and 
honors, reveals the loathsomeness of sin and sinful 



134 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



indulgence, and humiliates the soul at the remem- 
brance of its unfaithfulness and cowardice. That, 
also, brings marvelous light to the understanding, 
quickening power to the conscience, purity to the af- 
fections, purpose of integrity to the will, and dignity 
and grandeur of life and character to the whole man- 
hood. 

" We are liable in this world," says Andrews Nor- 
ton, " to continual delusion ; to a most extravagant 
over-estimate of the value of its objects." This de- 
lusion is dispelled, and this false estimate corrected, 
in the place of lofty vision ; and we learn not only 
the relative insignificance of sublunary things, but 
also the incomparable value of those which are 
spiritual and eternal. 

But the great advantage of this prolonged com- 
munion with God is in its purifying, energizing, and 
transforming influence on our own nature. We be- 
come like Him whom we adore and love ; for " we all, 
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to 
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And to be 
changed from the image of the earthly, sensual, and 
devilish, into the resplendent image of Christ's holi- 
ness, is the loftiest privilege and richest endowment 
of a sinful man. " It does us good," we are told, " to 
admire what is good and beautiful ; but it does us in- 
finitely more good to love it. We grow like what we 
admire ; but we become one with what we love." 
Admiration, however, belongs to the finite, not to the 
Supreme ; we reverence and adore, with prostration 
of soul, with a deep sense of our own nothingness, 
and with some faint discernment of the infinite glory, 



THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH. 



135 



the transcendent greatness and goodness of Jehovah. 
And to dwell on His perfections, to contemplate His 
character, to meditate on His wondrous works, to pour 
out our souls in gratitude for His mercies, to conse- 
crate our powers and possessions to His service, to 
commit ourselves, interests, ambitions, loves, all to 
which our hearts cling, to Him, as to a faithful Crea- 
tor, is to grow divine in our inner life, to be exalted 
in every sentiment of our being, to be lifted to a nobler 
plane of experience, and to attain to a peace and pur- 
pose of soul not to be realized in any other way, and 
in which, as Ruskin expresses it, " the rest is one of 
humanity instead of pride, and the trust no more in 
the resolution we have taken, but in the hand we 
hold!' 

The vision of God is a joyful vision. It is the 
rapture of the saints. It is the source of strength 
and consolation in the midst of their trials. It bright- 
ens dying eyes, and brings unfailing comfort to the 
soul in the last great conflict. Over the wreck of 
mortality it awakens shouts of victory. This mani- 
festation of God is a vision of heaven. In the light 
of the divine presence, saints behold their future in- 
heritance. If " thine eyes shall see the King in his 
beauty, they shall behold the land that is very far 
off," also. The Spirit reveals, in the mountain of 
myrrh, the things which God hath prepared for them 
that love him. And those who have this enraptur- 
ing view do not think it long to tarry, " till the day 
break and the shadows flee away." "The saints," 
says Rutherford, " have a sweet life between them 
and Christ. There is much sweet solace of love be- 
tween Him and them, when He feedeth among the 



136 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

lilies and cometh into His garden." And, perhaps, 
even in glory, the " golden vials full of odors, which 
are the prayers of the saints," will remind them of 
their oft-time secret communion with their Lord and 
King, while probation lasted, in the Mountain of 
Myrrh and in the Hill of Frankincense. 



HELP ONLY IN GOD. 



137 



XVII. 
HELP ONLY IN GOD. 

"0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but iu me is thy help." — 
Hose a xiii, 9. 

Rationalism, which is the prevailing form of infi- 
delity, asserts just the contrary of this passage, 
namely : " I am not destroyed, and my help is in 
myself." In other words, the divergence between 
Revelation and Rationalism begins with respect to 
the fact of human condition. Is man a sinner ? 
Is he destroyed ? Is he a spiritual ruin ? Have we 
to deal with such a fact as sin ? If we admit sin, 
and have any adequate conceptions of its true char- 
acter, our need of a Saviour, and of an almighty 
Saviour, will at once become manifest. If, on the 
other hand, we deny sin, or regard it as an incon- 
siderable matter, how shall w r e account for moral 
disorder and human misery ? Must not sin exist, 
and must it not be an agency of tremendous power, 
a contagion of deadly virulence, an enginery as fierce 
and terrible as hell to produce those fearful, continu- 
ous, and wide-spread results of desolation and death 
which confront us on every side ? " Sin," some one 
has said, " is the one mystery which makes every 
thing else plain." We have only to glance around 
us in the world to behold the evidence of the ravages 



138 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



of sin. The facts of human condition attest its 
reality. Poverty, superstition, physical and moral 
disorders, ignorance, crime, are so many poisonous 
streams flowing from the baleful fountains of trans- 
gression. That is, we cannot suppose these things 
to exist, under the government of a wise and good 
God, as facts and experiences of a race of innocent 
beings. Sin explains their existence, although the 
mystery of its own dark origin may remain un- 
solved. 

But if sin exist, it is not only objective but subjective ; 
it is not merely an external fact, it is an internal 
reality. Rationalism discards revelation, and asserts 
the full competency of the mind to discover religious 
truth for itself; while Christianity teaches that the 
understanding is darkened by the influence of sin, 
and needs to be enlightened by that true Light 
which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. 

Now what is the fact ? Does reason teach us all 
that we need to know of God ? Does it teach His 
existence, His character, His relation to us ? With- 
out revelation, what can I learn of the Most High ? 
What is His character ? What is the object of His 
government? How does He regard me? Is He 
angry w 7 ith me ? If not, why does He subject me to 
loss, trial, misery, and death ? If He is, then how 
can I appease or escape His wrath ? With the sim- 
ple knowledge of God, or Deism, how could I be 
other than wretched, shivering in the grasp of an un- 
known and terrible power ? 

Again, what of the future ? The idea of another 
world, a w r orld of judgment and retribution, is in the 



HELP ONLY IJST GOB. 



139 



minds of men ; it has somehow originated. Heaven 
and hell are possible, are actual realities, for all I 
can show to the contrary. Then what relation do I 
sustain to them ? May I hope for the one, may I 
escape the other ? Does reason give me sufficient 
light ? Does its light shine at all beyond the tomb ? 
And yet here is the grave just before my feet, and 
my path lies inevitably that way. Is there any thing 
beyond, and, if any thing, what is its character ? Can 
I, ought I, to be satisfied, except I know ? 

Is there not a hunger in the human soul for the 
truths of revelation ? Do we not instinctively, in 
the high necessities of the spiritual life, seek for 
guidance ? Do we not go out of ourselves for truth ? 
and in the great exigencies of our life is not prayer 
the natural language of our souls ? But Rationalism 
does not satisfy the moral and spiritual sense, and 
does not comfort the heart in its griefs and trials. 
Infidelity at the grave of buried love cries, "This is 
an eternal sleep ! " But Jesus stands and weeps, 
calls the afflicted soul to himself, and points to the 
compensations and rewards of an eternal state. 
Robert Hall said that he buried his rationalism in 
the grave of his father ; and many a man, when the 
dark shadows have fallen across his pathway, has 
found cheer and comfort in the bright beams of the 
Sun of Righteousness scattering all his gloom, and 
filling his soul with Heaven's own light. 

Take another view. Has any nation in darkness 
ever groped its way into the light ? Do any people 
ever obtain that knowledge of God, and of the facts 
of His spiritual kingdom, on which our civilization 
rests, except it is brought to them, except they are 



140 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

the fruit of missionary labor, except, in other words, 
they receive the revelation which God has given to 
us by his Son ? And vet the world has always been 
groaning for the truths of the Gospel. Look at Pa- 
ganism, with its altars, sacrifices, and temples ! 
What are they but its confession of guilt, and of the 
need of expiation ? The one great question which 
has seemed to burden the soul of man in every age 
and land is substantially this : How shall a sinner 
come into the presence of a holy God? Paganism al- 
ways comes to this, and every religious system in 
the world has this significance. It is the cry of 
human need in its depth of conscious moral degrada- 
tion. It is the question which Christianity answers, 
fully answers, answers to the perfect satisfaction of 
every believing soul ; and as the oracle, to meet 
human necessity, must be of divine origin, Chris- 
tianity is thus demonstrated to be a revelation of 
God. . 

Again, it must be admitted that authorized object- 
ive teaching is included among the possible sources 
of knowledge. If so, revelation is at least possible, 
and if it be given, may be authoritative in its charac- 
ter. An authoritative revelation from God, there- 
fore, is within the range of human experiences, and 
any system claiming to be such a revelation is not 
to be rejected as absurd or impossible, but received 
with the utmost candor, and examined with all seri- 
ousness and earnestness. 

And here the question arises, What is the legiti- 
mate office of Reason in Religion ? I answer, 

i. To examine the facts of so-called natural re- 
ligion. 



HELP ONLY IN GOD. 



I 4 I 



2. To examine the evidences of any system assert- 
ing itself to be a revelation from God. 

3. To determine the rules of exegesis and historic 
investigation, and so to apply them that falsehoood 
may be detected and the truth demonstrated. 

4. To prevent any thing being received as re- 
vealed and authoritative which is in conflict with 
known truth, because, as God is the author of all 
truth, every truth must be in harmony with every 
other truth. 

5. To interpret and harmonize the Holy Scrip- 
tures in their different parts, and in their teachings 
on various subjects. 

6. To determine the relative value of Christian 
doctrines, all ■ having manifestly the same divine 
origin. 

But it is utterly absurd to reject a doctrine or 
revelation as irrational because mysterious and in- 
comprehensible to a finite mind. The human reason 
must, of course, be limited by its possibilities. There 
are bounds which it cannot pass. There is nothing 
in the universe of God which we can comprehend in 
its essence. We know the existence of matter, and 
such facts as growth and gravitation, but we cannot 
tell what they are. In the last analysis they elude 
us. They are just like the facts of God's spiritual 
kingdom, capable of being known only by their phe- 
nomena. Besides, those things which are easy of 
comprehension and without mystery are short-lived, 
and neither satisfy the soul nor stir the emotions. 

There is, moreover, perfect harmony betwixt phi- 
losophy and theology in their processes and results. 
Philosophy starts with the facts of human conscious- 



142 SHORT SERMONS OJS r COXSECRATIOX. 



ness ; theology with the facts of historical Chris- 
tianity, including man's sinful condition. Each em- 
ploys its own methods ; but the conclusions, which are 
legitimately reached, do not contradict each other. 
Both find sin, misery, mystery, hungering for the 
infinite, a religious nature in man, a disposition to 
worship, a conscience and a soul lifting man above 
the brutes, and a possible cognition of the Unknown 
and Absolute. Neither can comprehend God, explain 
the origin of evil, or bring the whole domain of truth 
within the range of our finite powers. Learning and 
philosophy are the handmaids, not the enemies, of 
religion, though sometimes, like a blind Samson, they 
are made to grind in the mill of the Philistines. And 
yet it was the Church which established and endowed 
the great universities, which reduced language to 
writing, which made literature a necessity by main- 
taining the religion of a Book, which preserved the 
lights of learning amid the lamps of the monasteries 
and at the altars of religion when barbarism deluged 
Europe, which, despite some bigoted exceptions, has 
been the steady patroness of science, and which has 
given to the world our high, enlightened, and benefi- 
cent civilization. 

A fair test of a religion is its fruits, and we are 
not unwilling that Christianity should be thus judged. 
Does Christianity save men ? Is it the light of the 
world ? Is it the salt of the earth ? Does it reform 
society ? Is it the antidote of corruption and decay ? 
Could we get along without it, and maintain our 
homes, our liberties, and our systems of education ? 
If it were banished from the midst of us, would not 
the very structure of civil society perish, and our 



HELP ONLY IN GOD. 



143 



boasted civilization become a night of barbarism, if 
not an utter pandemonium of guilt and shame ? 

" Thou hast destroyed thyself; " sin is man's dark- 
ness, misery, ruin. The one thing to be shunned, 
loathed, hated, and escaped from, at whatever cost, 
sacrifice, or peril, is sin. 

" In Me is thy help." The Lord is our strength 
and our salvation. " The law of the spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus," saith the apostle, "hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death." And again, " I am 
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live 
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
loved me and gave himself for me." 

The whole history of the Church glows with such 
testimony. 

"In Me is thy help." The light, the help, the 
power, the wisdom, the sufficiency, the love greater 
than the world's needs, the uplifting, the sanctifica- 
tion, the redemption, the victory over sin and death 
and hell, the everlasting triumph, the exaltation, 
enthronement, and glorification of the soul forever — 
all must come from God ; and to him, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, be endless praise. 



144 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XVIII. 
THE JOY OF OUR LORD. 

" These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain 
in you, and that your joy might be full. 1 ' — John xy, 11. 

Jesus is described as a man of sorrows. His posi- 
tion in life was humble. He trod the stormy path- 
way of a reformer, enunciating truths for the future 
agds. He was serious, earnest, consecrated, bearing 
a great burden on his heart, till he cried, " It is fin- 
ished ! " And yet no man can read the record of the 
Evangelists without perceiving that Jesus was up- 
borne by some mighty consolation — that there 
was in him some spring of perennial comfort, and 
that light shone on bis pathway from beyond the 
heavens. 

What were the elements of this joy ? 

We know that it did not consist in external things. 
When we think of Jesus we do not think of wealth, 
or honors, or ambitious rewards — of the splendor of 
place and power — ofelegant leisure for study and travel 
and the enjoyment of home and friends, or even of a 
satisfaction springing from great mental endowments. 
" Intellectual gifts," says Froude, "are like gifts of 
strength, or wealth, or rank, or worldly power — splendid 
instruments, if nobly used ; but requiring qualities to 
use them nobler and better than themselves." Con- 



THE JOY OF OUR LORD. 



145 



sciousof such brilliant intellectual powers, we see Mil- 
ton seeking "fit audience, though few," for his immortal 
song, and exulting, even in his blindness, that he had 
lost the light of vision "in Liberty's defense, that 
noble task, with which all Europe rang from side to 
side ; " or Bacon, lifting himself above his own times, 
and, in the proud self-assertion of genius and great- 
ness, bequeathing his fame to the " future ages." 
But no such strains of exultation fall from the lips of 
Jesus. He glories not in conscious superiority, nor 
in the assurance of immortal fame. He yearns for the 
baptism with which he is to be baptized ; but it is a 
baptism of tears, sweat, and blood, in the garden and 
on the cross, for the world's redemption. 
In what, then, did the joy of Jesus consist ? 

1. In the power given unto him in earth and heaven 
— the power to dethrone Satan, to ransom a race, to 
abolish death, to bring in everlasting righteousness, 
to extend the offers of salvation to lost sinners on 
terms of possible acceptance, to become the second 
federal Head of humanity, to restore the lost Eden, 
to vindicate the authority of the divine government, 
to reveal God to the human consciousness, to demon- 
strate the justice, sovereignty, and infinite beneficence 
of the Almighty Father, and to gather around the 
throne millions of ransomed souls, to shine in the 
divine image, and to sing the song of the Lamb 
through the eternal ages. 

2. His personal character was a source of joy. 
Character is the quality of manhood, or, as one has 

said, it is what a man is in the sight of God. A char- 
acter which is pure, noble, beneficent, and harmoni- 
ous, has a pulsation of joy in its every tbcob of life, and 

10 



146 BHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



exults in the midst of all earthly desolation, of all 
hellish malice, in the consciousness of its own purity ; 
and such a character insures a life of unfailing joy. 

Jesus says of himself, " I am meek and lowly in 
heart ; " and he declares that those who learn of him 
this meekness and lowliness shall have rest to their 
souls. The meek, says Mr. Wesley, are "they that 
hold all their passions and affections evenly balanced. " 
In the light of this definition, Jesus was emphatically 
The Meek. There was no disturbance, no perturba- 
tion, no fever of anxiety, no pulsation of impurity, no 
torture of apprehension, no bleeding of a lacerated 
heart, " no restless seeking after rest." All the 
passions and affections were evenly balanced. Low- 
liness of heart, moreover, prepares us for any and 
every condition in life. The soul crowned with this 
grace is alike content in poverty, or opulence, in 
adversity or prosperity, in obscurity or renown. No 
circumstance of human condition, therefore, could 
disturb the joy of Jesus. 

Consider also his humility, as seen in the fact that 
he girded himself and washed the feet of his disci- 
ples ; his tenderness, weeping with the afflicted sisters 
of Bethany at the grave of buried love, and weeping 
over the doomed city in which he was betrayed and 
crucified ; his beneficence, so constant and active 
that his whole life is pictured in the words, " He 
went about doing good ; " his regard for childhood, 
taking the little ones up in his arms and blessing 
them ; his veracity and courage, exposing the hy- 
pocrisy and lies of the Pharisees, and blasting them 
with the most terrible denunciations; his divide 
temper and soul, praying, as he hung on the cross, 



THE JOY OF OUR LORD. 



H7 



for the murderers who mocked his dying agonies. 
Now must not a character so pure, simple, beneficent, 
sympathetic, and courageous have had great resources 
of joy and satisfaction in itself? Can we think of 
the humility, tenderness, child-love, friendliness to- 
ward man, and magnanimity — genuine greatness of 
soul — toward his enemies, displayed by our Lord, 
without feeling that such a nature must have real- 
ized a joy kindred to the joy of heaven ? The joy of 
Jesus was, then, in part, the result of right manhood. 

3. His joy also consisted in his perfect accord with 
the will of the Father. 

To do and suffer that will was his delight. " My 
meat," he said, that is, my very life, "is to do the 
will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." 
" And he that sent me," he affirmed, " is with me " — 
source of unfailing and eternal joy — " The Father 
hath not left me alone " — O infinite satisfaction of the 
divine presence ! — "for I do always those things that 
please him ; " and so he always manifests himself to 
me in approbation and love. He expresses this per- 
fect accord with the Father in the words, " We are 
one." This close and constant communion of his 
soul with God was the source of unfailing satisfac- 
tion. It thrilled his human consciousness with 
divine joy. 

4. He had joy in his beneficent work. 

At his approach the blind saw, the deaf heard, the 
lame leaped, the sick recovered, and the dead walked 
forth among living men. Our Lord showed the 
beneficence of his heart and his tender regard for 
man by choosing to prove himself the Son of God, 
not by arresting the course of the orbs of heaven, 



148 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



but by performing works of mercy on the sorrow- 
ing and wretched of earth. And this work was 
his joy. 

5. He never despaired of his own cause. 

He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 
He knew the strength of sin, the malice of hell, 
and the fierceness and duration of the conflict ; but 
he knew also the matchless resources of infinite love, 
the greatness of the power given him, the stupen- 
dous achievements of Providence touching all inter- 
ests, public and private, extending through all ages, 
and changing the destinies of men and nations, and 
he knew how much would be accomplished in the 
illumination and transformation of the human soul 
by the power of the Holy Ghost. This was "the 
joy that was set before him." Through the inspira- 
tion of this joy he " endured the cross, despising the 
shame," and in anticipation of its fullness he " is set 
down at the right hand of the throne of God," carry- 
ing forward his work in the earth, till all shall know 
him, from the least to the greatest. How great the 
joy of Jesus in anticipation of that full and glorious 
triumph, when " he shall see of the travail of his soul, 
and shall be satisfied ! " 

The Christian is permitted to have the fullest fel- 
lowship with Jesus in his joy. The conditions are 
renunciation, consecration, faith in the Son of God. 
The conditions are indispensable ; the renunciation 
must be absolute ; the consecration whole and com- 
plete ; and the faith constant, active, and reliant. But 
the conditions being fully and always met, the follower 
of Jesus may rejoice, as did his Master, in the power 
given to him — power over sin, the world, and Satan ; 



THE JOY OF OUR LORD. 



149 



in his personal character, beautified, ennobled, and 
(relatively) perfected by the grace of God ; in his 
oneness with the Father, through Jesus, and in the 
consciousness of the divine presence and love, so that 
he can always say, 

" May thy will, not mine, be done; 
May thy will and mine be one ; " 

in the delightful work of love and beneficence, glad- 
dening the hearts and brightening the destinies of 
his fellow-men ; and in the assurance of final victory 
over sin and death and hell, so that at last it shall be 
said of him, " Well done, good and faithful servant ; 
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord." 



150 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XIX. 

THE LORD'S PECULIAR TREASURE. 

"For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his 
peculiar treasure." — Psa. cxxxv. 4. 

Solomon, describing his earthly splendor, the glory 
of his kingdom, and his vain attempts to find a satis- 
factory portion in the world, says : " I gathered me 
also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of 
kings." He had the gold of Ophir, and " of spices 
very great store, and precious stones ; " he had 
" harps also, and psalteries for singers," and gardens, 
and vineyards, and orchards, and pools of water, and 
" great and small cattle," and whatsoever his eyes de- 
sired, or his longing heart coveted ; and so he was 
great, and his wisdom also remained with him. 
These things, according to Oriental ideas, constitu- 
ted the peculiar treasure of kings. 

The great King, the Lord Jehovah, has also his 
peculiar treasure. He hath chosen Israel to be "a 
special people unto himself, above all other people 
that are upon the face of the earth." He said thus, 
by Moses, to the house of Jacob and to the children 
of Israel : " If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep 
my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure 
unto me above all people : for all the earth is mine : 
and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a 



THE LORD'S PECULIAR TREASURE. 15 1 



holy nation." " For the Lord's portion," it is said, in 
language still more marvelous, " is his people ; Jacob 
is the lot of his inheritance." Hence, saith the Lord, 
by the prophet, " Thou, Israel, art my servant ; 
Jacob, whom I have chosen ; the seed of Abraham, 
my friend." And so dear is this chosen seed to the 
heart of the Most High that he exclaims : ''Fear not : 
for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy 
name ; thou art mine. When thou passest through 
the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the 
rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou 
waikest through the fire, thou shait not be burned ; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am 
the Lord thy God, the Holy one of Israel, thy Saviour : 
. . . since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast 
been honorable, and I have loved thee." " For thou 
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the 
Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto 
himself, above all the nations that are upon the 
earth." We are also taught by the great apostle to 
the Gentiles that our Saviour; Jesus Christ, " gave 
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all in- 
iquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, 
zealous of good works." And Peter testifies, in the 
same strain : " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal 
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ; that 
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath 
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light : 
which in time past were not a people, but are now 
the people of God ; which had not obtained mercy, 
but now have obtained mercy.'' 

The conditions and blessings of this covenant re- 
lation are worthy of our consideration : 



i 52 SHORT BEEMONS ON COXSECRATIOX. 



1. On what condition may we become the peculiar 
people of God? 

The first, manifestly, is, obedience. God must 
be accepted as Lawgiver and King. His voice 
must be heeded, and his covenant remembered. 

The Lord must be served. If Jacob is chosen, it 
is as a servant. We are not to do our own will, or 
seek our own pleasure, but the will and pleasure of 
our heavenly Father. 

Again, it is only a holy or consecrated people which 
the Lord will acknowledge as his own. They are 
separated from the world, redeemed from all iniquity, 
that is, actually delivered from its power, purified in 
affections and life by an application of the atoning 
blood, and called out of darkness into the marvel- 
ous light of the Gospel — from sin, ignorance, and 
misery, unto righteousness, knowledge, holiness, and 
happiness. 

The chosen generation of the Most High are also 
zealous of good works. They delight in charity, 
benevolence, and deeds of Christian faith and love. 
(i This being the great end of Christ's death,'' says 
Macknight, "how dare any person, pretending to be 
one of Christ's people, either to speak or to think 
lightly of good works as not necessary to salvation ? " 

This people, which is for a possession of the Most 
High, having been called out of darkness into the 
marvelous light of the divine presence, show forth 
the praises, or, as Macknight renders it, declare the 
perfections of their Redeemer, the Lord. The light 
into which they have come is marvelous, because, to 
use Leighton's words, " it is a pure, undecaying, 
heavenly light," scattering all the darkness of the 



THE L OED'6 PEC XTLIAB TEE AS UBE. 1 5 3 



sinful soul. " Let us not, therefore, think it incredi- 
ble/' adds the Archbishop, " that a poor unlettered 
Christian may know more of God, in the best kind of 
knowledge, than any the wisest and most learned 
natural man can do ; for the one knows God only by 
man's light, the other knows him by his own light, 
and that is the only right knowledge. As the sun 
cannot be seen by its own light, so neither can God 
be savingly known but by his own revealing." But 
whoever does thus know him, will declare him, or show 
forth his praises. The imparted illumination makes 
the recipient at once a revelator of God. When the 
prophetic fire burns in his soul it will glow on his 
lips. He will turn a shining face on his fellows, who 
comes to them from the thick cloud of the divine 
presence. He will show forth the praises of Jesus, 
whose heart is musical with the grace of redemption. 
The peculiar people of God walk, white-robed, with 
harps and crowns and shining faces, even in this 
world. In a thousand ways, they make manifest the 
excellency and glory of their Lord and King. They 
are his witnesses ; they magnify his grace ; they 
make mention of his goodness, and they show forth 
to earth and heaven his praises. 

2. What are the blessings of this cliosen gen- 
eration ? 

The Lord espouses them unto himself as his own, 
his peculiar treasure, throws around them his protect- 
ing arm, and vouchsafes unto them the guidance of 
his unerring wisdom and the blessings of his infinite 
love. The Lord makes them a kingdom of priests, 
or a royal priesthood. He gives them the right of 
approach into the divine presence, he accepts their 



154 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



gifts and offerings, he hearkens to their requests, he 
bestows on them a measure of his own royal power, 
and exalts them to thrones of dominion in the world 
to come. He bestows on them a "profusion of 
blessings, temporal, spiritual, and everlasting, of 
which the crown of all is, that they should be an ap- 
propriation unto himself? 

On the w r ords, " A peculiar treasure," in Exodus 
xix, 5. Bush comments as follows: " Hebrew, 
segullahy a word of which we do not find the verbal 
root, sagal, in Hebrew, but in Chaldee ; it signifies, 
to gain, to acquire to ones self, to make one s own, to 
appropriate. Wherever the name occurs in Hebrew 
it denotes a peculium, a possession or treasure of 
which the owner is peculiarly choice, one on which his 
heart is set, and which he neither shares with others 
nor resigns to the care of others. It has an obvious 
relation to the Latin word sigillum, seal, and is es- 
pecially applied to such choice possessions as were 
secured with a seal, as gold, silver, jewels, precious 
stones, etc." 

The same word occurs in Malachi iii, 17, "And 
they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that 
day when I make up my jezvels" — that is, my choice, 
peculiar, and invaluable treasures. 

The Lord even represents himself as choosing his 
people for an inheritance ; they are, he says, " the 
seed of Abraham, my friend? and so to be remem- 
bered with special mercies. He declares that they 
are precious in his sight, honorable, and the objects 
of his peculiar regard — that the waters shall not 
overflow them, nor the fire kindle its flame upon 
them. " I am thy Saviour, thou art mine," expresses, 



THE L DHL'S PECULIAR TREASURE. I 5 5 



in fewest words, this sublime and glorious covenant 
relation. And the Lord promises to make Israel, 
because, by consecration and covenant, they had be- 
come his own peculiar people, "high above all nations 
in praise, and in name, and in honor." 

Those who accept the invitations of the Gospel, 
and enter into covenant with God, to be his and 
to live for his glory, experience the redemption of 
power, are purified by the blood of the Lamb, be- 
come, through sovereign grace,"a chosen generation, 
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," 
are called out of darkness into God's marvelous light, 
and shew forth his praises in the earth. 

How great, then, are the privileges of the children 
of God ! How happy are all those who are identified 
with the Redeemer's cause and kingdom in the earth ! 
And how superlative the folly of such as turn their 
backs on the Church, and forfeit its covenant bless- 
ings ! O the indescribable felicity of beins; con- 
sciously the treasure, the precious possession, the 
peculiar care of the King of kings ! To have the 
shelter of the arm, and the love of the heart, and the 
covenant mercy and grace of Him who suffered on 
Calvary, but who lives in glory, is the rapturous 
height of Christianity. 

" If God has given you the earnest of the Spirit," 
says Rutherford, " as part of payment of God's prin- 
cipal sum, ye have to rejoice ; for our Lord will not 
lose his earnest, neither will he go back, nor repent 
him of the bargain. If ye find, at some time, a long- 
ing to see God, joy in the assurance of that sight, 
(howbeit that feast be but like the Passover, that 
cometh about only once a year ;) peace of conscience. 



150 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



liberty of prayer, the doors of God's treasure thrown 
open to the soul, and a clear sight of himself looking 
out, and saying, with a smiling countenance, 'Wel- 
come to me, afflicted soul,' this is the earnest that he 
giveth sometimes, and which maketh glad the heart, 
and is evidence that the bargain will hold." 



THE HOL T HA TBED OF GOD. 157 



XX. 

THE HOLY HATRED OF GOD. 

"Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." — Psa. v, 5. 

No being loves like God, and no being hates like 
God. The latter fact corresponds with the former, 
and both root in the infinite nature of Jehovah. God 
hates sin ; he hates sinners, considered as such ; he 
hates the devil ; he hates all workers of iniquity. 
He does not merely look on them with disapproba- 
tion ; he hates them. He has no pleasure in wick- 
edness, evil shall not dwell with him, and the foolish 
shall not stand in his sight. But this is not all ; he 
hates all workers of iniquity, and he abhors the bloody 
and deceitful man. 

As God, beyond any other being in the universe, 
discerns the true character, relations, and conse- 
quences of sin, so, beyond any other being in the 
universe, he looks on sin with loathing, detests trans- 
gressors, and arrays the whole strength of his nature 
against that w T hich is evil. 

We are taught, at least in our hymnal theology, 
that we ought to hate the sin and yet the sinner love ; 
but no man, in the whole range of human experience, 
has ever loved or hated an abstraction. And God, as 
we are so strongly assured in this Fifth Psalm, hates 



158 SHORT SERMONS OX GONSECBATION. 



all workers of iniquity, and not merely iniquitous 
works ; and abhors the bloody and deceitful man, 
not merely the bloody and deceitful thing. The 
wicked blesseth the covetous, it is said, that is, the 
covetous person ; but " the Lord abhorreth," looks 
with a strong emotion of horror, upon this same 
character. " No objects of the senses," says Home, 
" can be so nauseous to men as the various kinds of 
sin are in the sight of God." 

In the strongest terms, the Almighty expresses 
his deep detestation of the hypocritical observances 
with which a backslidden people maintained the 
forms of religion: "Your new moons and your ap- 
pointed feasts my soul hateth ; they are a trouble 
unto me ; I am weary to bear them." " For I, the 
Lord, love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt-offer- 
ing." " I hate, I despise your feast-days." " I have 
no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither 
will I accept an offering at your hand." 

And God's utter abhorrence of immorality, false- 
hood, treachery, idolatry or devil-worship, and all 
wicked devisings and imaginings, is expressed with 
a certainty and emphasis quite as marked and un- 
mistakable. When Israel forsook God, and sacrificed 
unto devils, and forgot the Rock of their salvation, 
the Lord, we are told, saw it and abhorred them, and 
said, " They have provoked me to anger with their 
vanities." When Israel was in desolation and wasted, 
the testimony of the Lord is that he besought them 
not to burn incense to other gods, "rising early and 
sending, saying, O do not the abominable tiling that 
I hate!" but that this entreaty, which seems a burst 
of passionate remonstrance from a heart of infinite 



THE HOLY HATRED OF GOD. 



159 



love, availed nothing, so that his fury and anger were 
poured forth. 

" Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor," 
saith the Lord by another prophet, " execute the 
judgment of truth and peace in your gates ; and let 
none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his 
neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these are 
things which I hate, saith the Lord." And again we 
read: "These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, 
seven are an abomination unto him : A proud look, a 
lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a 
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet 'that be 
swift in running to mischief, a false witness that 
speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among 
brethren." 

The angel of the Church at Ephesus is commend- 
ed because he hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, 
"which," the Lord adds, u I a/so hate!' And to the 
angel of the Church of Pergamos it is said: u So hast 
thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolia- 
tanes, which thing / hate? From which it appears, 
that both the doctrine and the deeds of the Nico- 
laitanes, whatever they may have been, excited the 
hatred — the utter moral abhorrence — of the gentle 
Jesus. 

And he who thus avows his detestation of the 
doctrine and deeds of the Xicolaitanes has obtained 
the lofty title of Sox of God, is worshiped by 
angels, occupies a throne of everlasting dominion, is 
fairer than the children of men, stands at the head 
of the renovated universe, girds on his thigh the 
sword of almightiness with his glory and majesty, 
and wields a scepter which can never be broken, 



160 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



because of him, emphatically and pre-eminently, can 
it be said, " Thou lovest righteousness and hatest 
wickedness : therefore God, thy God, hath anointed 
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows " — 
because, as one observes, " the sermons, the example, 
and above all the death of Christ, for the expiation 
of sin, demonstrated his love of righteousness and 
hatred of wickedness." And just as certainly as he 
loves righteousness, and just as constantly, and just 
as intensely, he hates all iniquity. He could not die 
to bring in everlasting righteousness, except he had 
an infinite horror of wickedness. 

Now if God so hates iniquity, we ought to hate it. 
" Abhor that which is evil," is the injunction; not 
simply disapprove it, oppose it, discountenance it, 
but abhor it. The whole tide of our moral nature 
must be turned against sin if we would feel as God 
feels in respect to it. " Hate the evil and love the 
good, and establish judgment in the gates,'* is God's 
word by his prophet. " The fear of the Lord is to 
hate evil," that is, such is its legitimate fruit, its 
certain results. Accordingly, we find the angel of 
the Church at Ephesus commended because he could 
not bear them which are evil, and because he tried 
those claiming to be apostles, who w T ere not, and 
proved them liars. In the work of saving souls a 
compassionate difference is demanded ; but some are 
to be saved with fear, "pulling them out of the fire, 
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh," or the 
slightest approach to contact and contamination. 

The Psalmist describes the sinner who has no fear 
of God before his eyes as one who "abhorreth not 
evil," and this is presented as the very crown and 



THE HOLY HATRED OF GOD. 



161 



climax of his iniquity and deceit ; and he rather 
plumes himself on his piety, because he had " hated 
the congregation of evil-doers/' " hated them that 
regard lying vanities/' hated " every false way." hated 
"vain thoughts/' and hated and abhorred "lying," 
which hearty hatred of specified and abominable 
vices may be supposed to argue the existence of as 
genuine and earnest love for the opposite virtues. 
" Ye that love the Lord hate evil/' is the compre- 
hensive direction of the inspired word. "Do not I 
hate them, O Lord, that hate thee ? " inquires the 
Psalmist, "and am not I grieved with those that sin 
against thee?" "I hate them," he adds, "with per- 
fect hatred ; I count them mine enemies." As a 
servant with his master, a subject with his king, a 
child with his father, so he is in thoroughest sym- 
pathy and fullest identification with God and his 
cause. 

"No man loves," said Bacon, "'where he ought to 
love, who has not first hated where he ought to hate." 
And the clearer our discernment of God and truth 
and holiness, the more odious will sin appear, the 
more we shall dread its slightest touch, the more 
persistently shall we antagonize it with all our moral 
force, the more shall we hate it, somewhat, at least, 
as God hates it, and the more earnestly shall we 
labor and pray for its destruction, and for the estab- 
lishment of righteousness, purity, and peace. 

And if to love what Christ loves be a sign of grace, 
equally so is it to hate what he hates. Perfect sym- 
pathy and oneness with the world's Redeemer ought 
to be the object of all Christian aspiration. And if 

this state be attained, we shall enter into the travail 

11 



1 62 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

of his soul, experience something of his baptism of 
tears and blood, intensely desire the coming of his 
kingdom and the destruction of his enemies, taste 
his agonizing abhorrence of sin, war with him against 
the Prince of Darkness, share the joy and glory of his 
successes, and reign with him in his triumphal realm 
of power and majesty forever. 



A DRIFT OR A VOYAGE? 



163 



XXI. 

A DRIFT, OR A VOYAGE t 

" Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.' 5 — Psa. lxxiii, 24. 

What is the nature of our life ? What is the signifi- 
cance of our earthly career ? Must we wander like 
children, lost and dazed, seeking vainly to find a path 
of safety and happiness, or may we grasp an unseen 
Hand, and have our steps directed by infinite wisdom 
and love ? In a word, is our life a drift or a voyage ? 
Do we float whithersoever we are borne by resistless 
currents, into balmy or tempestuous seas, underneath 
serene or stormy skies, to genial or desolate shores, 
just as our course may be shaped by blind, mysteri- 
ous forces ? or is our life a voyage, having an aim 
and purpose, battling, if need be, against winds and 
waves, against tides and tempests, against cyclones 
and icebergs, welcoming sunny heavens and islands 
of balm and seas rippling in music, but always bearing 
steadily on, under all conditions and circumstances, 
toward a chosen, coveted, and predestined shore ? 
This latter hypothesis is the Christian philosophy of 
life. Every thing has a meaning. The great object 
is character and immortality. And the Highest 
himself is interested, beyond what we are able to 
conceive, in the processes and issues of the humblest 



1 64 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



life. Every soul, according to this theory, is a voy- 
ager, and that, on the whole, is the most successful 
voyage which makes the mariner hardy, courageous, 
and trustful in Providence, and which brings him, at 
last, to the harbor with the most richly freighted 
ship, having escaped all perils of founder or wreck, 
and reached the shore and land and home, which 
had been the object of his constant desire. 

Or, to come back to the figure of the Psalmist, 
such are the intricacies and dangers of man's career 
through the world that he needs a guide to direct 
him in all his ways, and such a guide as is sufficient 
for his necessities — one who is wise, faithful, constant, 
and able to go with him to the end. "This God is our 
God for ever and ever," is the Psalmist's triumphant 
assurance ; " He will be our guide even unto death." 
And he alone is competent to be our guide, knowing 
us thoroughly, discerning the perils and possibilities 
of the w r ay, loving us with fatherly constancy and 
fervor, and able to make us always conscious of his 
presence, and to direct our faltering steps, in light 
and darkness, over mountains and through valleys, 
down the steeps of death and up to the golden gates 
of the New Jerusalem. 

If the Lord guide us according to this promise, 
he will guide us by his counsel, that is, by his Word 
and by his Holy Spirit. We need not expect to be 
led in any unusual ways, or by any unusual agencies. 
The divine presence is most surely found in the 
old paths, and in the use of the recognized means 
of grace- 
Especially is the unfailing and manifold word a 
source of instruction and consolation to the saints of 



A DRIFT, OB A VOYAGE? 



I6 5 



God. " I have lost a world of time," said the learned 
Salmasius on his death-bed ; " if I had one year more 
I would spend it in reading David's Psalms and 
Paul's Epistles." And these living Scriptures, con- 
stantly inspired of God, are adapted to the exigencies 
of every soul. They enlighten the mind and com- 
fort the heart. They teach, warn, encourage, inspire, 
direct, entreat. By precept and by example, by 
prophecy and by miracle, they show us the way of 
life and salvation. What Home says of the Psalms 
of David is true of the Scriptures generally: "They 
present religion to us in the most engaging dress ; 
communicating truths which philosophy could never 
investigate, in a style which poetry can never equal ; 
while history is made the vehicle of prophecy, and 
creation lends all its charms to paint the glories of 
redemption. Calculated alike to profit and to please, 
they inform the understanding, elevate the affections, 
and entertain the imagination." As the manna which 
came down from heaven, to use a metaphor from the 
author just quoted, was adapted to every palate, and 
fully met all necessities, so these divine Scriptures, 
the miraculous gift of God, are relished by every 
devout soul, and completely answer all requirements 
of our natures and surroundings. " For whatsoever 
things were written aforetime, were written for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the 
Scriptures might have hope." 

A few hours before his death, Wilberforce, calling 
a friend near to him, said : " Let us talk of heaven. 
Do not weep for me ; I am happy. Think of me, 
and let the thought press you forward. I never 
knew happiness till I found Christ a Saviour. Read 



1 66 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



the Bible — read the Bible ! Let no religious book 
take its place ; through all my perplexities and dis- 
tresses I never read any other book, and I never felt 
the want of any other. It has been my hourly study ; 
and all my knowledge of the doctrines, and all my 
acquaintance with the experience and realities of re- 
ligion, have been drawn from the Bible only. / think 
religious people do not read the Bible enough. Books 
about the Bible maybe useful, but they will not do in 
the place of the simple truth of the Bible." 

The Lord also guides his children by his Holy 
Spirit, but the impulse and testimony of the Spirit 
'will always be in accordance with the teachings of 
the written word. The Spirit's influences, moreover, 
are most likely to be received in connection with the 
study of the Scriptures, or in pleading its promises 
at a throne of grace, for the Holy Spirit is "the 
Spirit of truth," and it is his office to teach, to bring 
the things which Jesus hath spoken to our remem- 
brance, and to guide us into all truth. 

If we would have the Lord for our guide we must 
choose him for our Captain and Leader, whom we 
will obediently follow, to whom we will surrender our 
own wills, and whose constant and unerring and 
sufficient guidance we will publicly and thankfully 
acknowledge. Dr. Clarke renders the twenty-fifth 
verse of Psalm seventy-third as follows : " Who is 
there to me in the heavens ? And with thee, I have 
desired nothing in the earth." And he adds : " No 
man can say this who has not taken God for his 
portion in both worlds." And whoever can use this 
language may be assured of the divine guidance. He 
will not be left to wander from the way of holiness, 



A DRIFT, OR A VOYAGE? 



167 



to stumble on the dark mountains of sin and unbelief, 
and to grope in doubt and fear down to death. 
u Tlwit sJialt guide me " — it is sure. " Thou shalt 
guide me" — it is personal, specific, and full of conso- 
lation. He guides the feeblest, most certainly, as a 
father leads along the roughness of the way, with 
greatest care and tenderness, a poor decrepit child. 
How great, how full, how abounding the joy of such 
divine guidance ! " Enough for me," however dark 
and mysterious the way, attended by whatever loss, 
trial, or sorrow, leading to whatever disruptions, 
separations, or alienations — 

" Enough for me to feel and know, 
That He in whom the cause and end. 
The past and future, meet and blend — 

G-uards not archangel feet alone. 

But deigns to guide and keep my own ; 

Speaks not alone the words of fate, 

"Which worlds destroy and worlds create, 

But whispers in my spirit's ear, 

In tones of love or warning fear. 

A language none besides may hear." 

Such guidance means success. It is light in dark- 
ness, help in need, and sure deliverance. It leads to 
a realization of the divine purpose in one's life. It 
secures the largest measure of usefulness. It gives 
knowledge for ignorance, wisdom for folly, and God's 
infinite sufficiency for the meagerness of human re- 
sources. The clearest faith, the warmest love, and 
the brightest hope glow, like stars, along this heaven- 
directed way. " Thou wilt show me the path of life ! " 
is the confident exclamation of the Psalmist ; and 



1 68 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

then he adds appropriately, as revealing the certain 
consummation of such guidance, " In thy presence is 
fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures 
for evermore/' If the Lord guide us by his counsel, 
he will assuredly bring us, after life's toil and trouble, 
to the vision of the " excellent glory." 



THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GIFT OF GOB. 169 



XXII. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GIFT OF GOD. 

"If thou knewest the gift of God."— John iv, 10. 

Manifold are the gifts from the hand of our heaven- 
ly Father with which our lives are crowned. He is 
the great Giver. He overflows incessantly on all his 
creatures. Impartation, so far as we can discern, is 
the highest life of God. He pours himself out for the 
good of his universe. Every moment of our existence 
proclaims the divine benevolence. In every imagina- 
ble way, for our bodies and souls, in view of our pres- 
ent and our future necessities, God showers on us his 
gifts. But his great, all-comprehensive gift, of un- 
speakable and inconceivable value, is the gift of him- 
self And this is the only gift which satisfies the 
hunger of the soul. If the Lord withhold himself 
from us, nothing besides will suffice. All other gifts 
are poor, compared with the gift of his Son and his 
Spirit, which are the gift of himself. The gift of God, 
that is, the special, pre-eminent, and all-important 
gift, is the gift of the Holy Spirit ; for, by the presence 
and power of the Spirit, God makes himself manifest 
in the human soul. And this gift is the great prom- 
ise of the Gospel. 

On the day of Pentecost, Peter assured his as- 
tonished hearers that, on condition of repentance and 



I/O SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

faith in Jesus Christ, they should obtain the remis- 
sion of sins, and receive " the gift of the Holy Ghost." 
And Simon Magus was blasted with a curse because 
he thought that " the gift of God," which was trans- 
mitted through the laying on of the apostles' hands, 
could be purchased with money. And it is repre- 
sented as the peculiar glory of the Gospel dispensa- 
tion, that on the Gentiles also was poured out the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. 

In his conversation with the woman of Samaria, 
Jesus describes the Holy Ghost under the metaphor 
of living water, employing a figure familiar to the 
prophets, and which aptly presents the freeness, full- 
ness, and life-giving offices of the refreshing and soul- 
reviving Spirit. By the " living water " is meant the 
same as by " the gift of God," that is, the Holy 
Ghost. "The gift of God," we are told, "is eternal 
life ; " the faith by which we are saved is declared to 
be "the gift of God;" and those who have "tasted 
of the heavenly gift " are said to be "pai takers of 
the Holy Ghost." In other words, this great gift ex- 
cites faith, produces a peculiar satisfaction in the 
soul, and leads, by its transforming power, to the ap- 
prehension and enjoyment of eternal life. 

It would seem, then, that the Holy Spirit is 
termed " the gift of God," by way of eminence, as 
being the choicest and best of God's gifts ; because 
other things come to us mediately, but the Holy 
Spirit directly from God himself ; and because the 
gift of the Holy Ghost is so comprehensive in its 
character, including the conviction of sin, the regen- 
eration of the heart, the evidence of adoption, the 
inward and outward work and walk of holiness, unfail- 



THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GIFT OF GOD. 171 



ing consolations in the conflicts and trials of life, a 
key to the mysteries of the providence of God, 
power in prayer and power of usefulness, the cer- 
tain guidance of unerring wisdom, victory over sin 
and self and Satan, and everlasting exaltation and 
felicity in God's eternal kingdom— such is " the gift 
of God." 

The Holy Spirit — the water which Christ gives — 
allays the thirst of the soul for every thing except 
God, and is in the heart of every believer "a well of 
water springing up into everlasting life." Whedon 
observes :-" It is a w r ater of spiritual life, but it jets 
up into an immortal life ; the water of spiritual life 
as it ascends crystallizes into an eternal life." And 
this "gift of God," and nothing besides, nor all 
things else, brings fullness of peace and content to 
the soul. As the quaint but pious Francis Ouarles 
has sung : 

"Without Thy presence, wealth is bags of cares; 

Wisdom, but folly ; joy, disquiet, sadness ; 
Friendship is treasoD, and delights are snares ; 

Pleasures but pain, and mirth but pleasing madness. 
Without thee, Lord, things be not what they be ; 
Nor have they being when compared to thee. 

"In having all things, and not thee, what haye I? 

Not haying thee, what have my labors got ? 
Let me enjoy thee, what further crave I ? 

And having thee alone, what have I not ? 
I wish nor sea, nor land ; nor would I be 
Possessed of heaven, heaven unpossessed of thee. 1 ' 

This 'is our unfailing portion, but we must ask for 
this gift if we would receive it in the fullest measure. 
And in order to this, we need to appreciate its value. 



172 



SHORT SERMONS OF CONSECRATION. 



When this woman of Samaria discerned, though 
dimly, the spiritual significance of Christ's words, 
she cried in earnestness of desire, " Give me this 
water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to 
draw." And for how many a mammonite, and pleas- 
ure-seeker, and panting aspirant for place and 
fame, would this be an appropriate prayer ! This 
constant thirst drives them to many a deep well, 
from which they can draw nothing, and to many an 
illusive fountain, which mocks them with the sem- 
blance without the reality of refreshing waters ; but 
only " the gift of God" — the unfailing, up-springing, 
water of life in the soul — will enable them to say, " I 
thirst no more." 

"Author of faith ! to Thee I lift 

My weary, longing eyes : 
let me now receive that gift, — 

My soul without it dies." 

We may reasonably suffer and sacrifice any thing 
and every thing 'for u the gift of God." If it required 
the labor of a life-time ; if it were needful to turn from 
every pleasure ; if only the wealth of the Indies could 
purchase it ; if its price were poverty, obscurity, and 
ignominy ; if it could only be found beyond seas, 
amid perils of malaria and death ; if it were surely 
obtained only in the dungeon or on the scaffold — the 
outlay, the self-denial, the offering, the sacrifice might 
be cheerfully made for such riches and glories of 
God's living, sublimating, and aggrandizing presence 
in the soul. If a man becomes the temple of God, 
and if his heart is an altar from which a grateful in- 
cense always rises to heaven, and if in the inner 
sanctuary of his being the living Shekinah ever glows, 



THE HOLY SPIBIT THE GIFT OF GOD. 1 73 



possessions and powers and domains of this world 
are nothing to him. No treasures of art, no wealth 
of learning, no splendors of genius, no triumphs of 
oratory, no titles, distinctions or honors, known among 
men, no sweets of domestic love, no fortune or favor 
or felicity of any character whatsoever, can compare 
with the light of God's reconciled countenance, the 
vision of purity, the recognized beauty of the Lord, 
the illuminating presence of divinity, and the conscious 
heirship to an everlasting possession. To such a soul, 
heaven is already a realization ; for he hungers no 
more, he thirsts no more, and for the Apocalyptic 
reason, the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
feeds him, and leads him unto living fountains of 
waters. Such are the experiences of those who re- 
ceive " the gift of God." 

" If thou knewest the gift of God ! " It is a great 
blessing to be able to see and understand our oppor- 
tunities and privileges. Our King, the royal Jesus, 
cometh, according to the prophecy, "just and having 
salvation." He has it meritoriously and officially — 
that is, to bestow on those who know their need and 
his power and plenitude of love and mercy, and who 
ask for " the gift of God." And although the Holy 
Spirit may not be purchased with money, or earned 
by charities to man, it still remains true that whoso- 
ever will may come, draw water out of the wells of 
salvation, and receive, through rich, abounding grace, 
" the gift of God." 



174 8H0BT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XXIII. 

THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION. 

"For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men 
have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen 
them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard 
them." — Matt, xiii, 17. 

This verse declares the glory of Messiah's kingdom, 
and the privileges of the Jewish people who lived in 
the generation in which Christ lived. It was a day 
which kings and prophets had desired to see, but 
they had not seen it, except in the dimness of pro- 
phetic vision. Devout men, for ages, had desired to 
hear the glorious utterances of the world's great 
Teacher ; but the exalted privileges of the times of 
the Messiah they had not been permitted to enjoy. 
They had not, indeed, dwelt in darkness. No ray- 
less pagan night settled down o*n them. They were 
in the twilight of the Gospel day, and some beams 
of the coming glory illuminated their heavens. But 
their types and shadows and prophetic voices were 
dark and doubtful and unsatisfactory, compared with 
the teachings and miracles and mighty works of the 
manifested Messiah. 

Glorious was the line of the Jewish saints ; from 
Abel, who offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain, and who obtained witness that he was 
righteous, to Enoch, who walked with God, and was 



GL OP Y OF THE G OSPEL DI8PENSA TIOX. 1 7 5 



not because God took him — to Noah, who prepared 
an ark for the saving of his house, by which he con- 
demned the world, and became heir of the righteous- 
ness which is by faith — to Abraham, who sojourned 
in the land of promise as in a strange country, for 
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God. " These all died in faith, 
not having received the promises, but having seen 
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and em- 
braced them, and confessed that they were strangers 
and pilgrims on the earth.' 5 

And though the prophets did not comprehend 
" what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ 
which was in them did signify, when it testified be- 
forehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that 
should follow ; " yet they saw and comprehended 
enough to perceive and understand that the times 
of the Messiah would be the beginning of a marvel- 
ous period in the world's history, fruitful in blessings 
to the Israel of God. But so far as the prophecies 
related to the Gentile world, they seemed to have no 
vision. This mystery of Christ, the mystery of uni- 
versal redemption, and of a faith and a religion for 
all peoples, in all lands, in all ages, " that," as the 
apostle has expressed it, "the Gentiles should be 
fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of 
his promise in Christ by the Gospel," "in other ages 
was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is 
now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by 
the Spirit." This full, cloudless revelation, this dis- 
tinct enunciation of a Gospel for humanity, this is the 
peculiar glory of Messiah's day and reign. 

What, then, let us inquire, are some of the peculiar 



176 SHOBT SERlfOXS ON COXSECBATIOX. 



advantages or privileges of that dispensation of the 
Gospel which we enjoy ? 

1. A Christ manifested is more than a Christ pre- 
dicted. We behold the prophecies fulfilled. Ours is 
not an anticipated Messiah, but an historic Lord. We 
know that the world's Redeemer has been on the 
earth ; that he has brightened man's pathway with 
the light of his footsteps ; that he has left us £n ex- 
ample of perfect holiness and unwearied beneficence ; 
that he has died as a sacrifice for our sins, and that 
the provisions of his Gospel are abundant for the sal- 
vation of our souls. 

2. The kingly presence and power of Jesus is repre- 
sented by the promised Spirit. 

Jesus comforted his disciples with the assurance 
that if he went away he would send the Spirit, which 
by its offices of illumination and guidance and awak- 
ening and consolation should more than compensate 
for his personal absence. We read in one place that 
" the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that 
Jesus was not yet glorified " — not that all who pre- 
ceded Christ were without the influence of the Spirit, 
but the day of his dispensation, when he should be 
to all believers as rivers of living water, had not yet 
come. But Jesus, glorified, sends the Holy Spirit in 
mighty power on the Church and the world. This 
is a peculiar glory of the Gospel dispensation. By 
the office and work of the Spirit, Christ's presence 
is made universal. The baptismal Spirit is the soul 
of Christendom — the life of religion in the world. 
The gracious anointing of wisdom and power which 
begun at Pentecost, continues in the Church, and 
sinners are awakened, penitents are converted, cor- 



GLORY OF TEE GOSPEL DISPEXSATLOX. 177 



ruption is purged away from the soul, the bonds of 
sinful habits are .broken, mighty consolations are 
experienced, victories of holiness are realized, the 
largest beneficence is inspired, and the world is filled 
with the glories of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

3. The growth of civilization is the product of 
Christianity, and this is one of the advantages which 
we enjoy under the reign of the Messiah and the 
dispensation of the Holy Spirit. There are many 
blessings which seem to lie outside of the Gospel 
which are yet born of it. Civilization roots in regen- 
eration. A civilized community of unregenerate men 
would be an impossibility. There must be enough 
of the power of the Gospel in men's hearts to subdue 
and shame, if it does not utterly extirpate, selfish- 
ness, to create a reverence for justice, to excite some 
measure of love for man as man, and to make the 
duty of caring for dependent and unfortunate classes 
plain and imperative, before there can be a reign of 
civilization. In other words, the Gospel must so far 
pervade society as to exert on all its institutions a 
sanctifying and transforming power, or it cannot be 
uplifted from barbarism, and saved from anarchy and 
self-destruction. Christian nations, therefore, have 
laws, governments, homes, systems of education, and 
institutions and organizations of beneficence ; and 
any nation becoming Christian will have these things 
will increase in its aggregate and in its impartial 
distribution of individual and social well-being. The 
general security and happiness of society, and all 
genuine progress, are to be attributed to Christianity, 
and these are distinguishing glories of the Messiah's 
reign. 

12 



178 SHORT 8EBM0NS OX CONSECRATION. 



4. This is a dispensation which is to continue and 
extend in the earth ; and its triumph in all lands, 
over all opposition, and for man's grandest elevation, 
will be absolute and forever. 

The religion of Jesus cannot encounter any greater 
opposition in the future than it has in the past. The 
victories which it has gained are a prophecy of the 
triumphs which it is destined to achieve. Never before 
in the world's history did it have such resources at 
its command — resources of wealth, learning, culture, 
knowledge of men and things, and of fullest conse- 
cration to Christ's cause. Every material improve- 
ment, every political advancement, every social 
reform, every triumph of art, every discovery of 
science, helps the Gospel. The doors of every nation 
open to receive the truth, and the language of Chris- 
tendom is becoming the language of the world. 

What, let us inquire in the second place, are the 
agencies through which these great Gospel successes 
are realized ? 

1. The first is holiness, which is at once the 
strength and glory of the Christian Church. By 
deliverance from sin, by deadness to the world, by 
blameless and holy lives, by goodness, mercy, and 
truth, on the part of Christ's followers, is this religion 
chiefly commended to the world. Methodism, espe- 
cially, has from the beginning set forth the doctrine 
and experience of holiness — the sanctifying power of 
God in the soul, as an orthodox dogma and a realized 
fact. And this has been one marked element of its 
wonderful success. "In 1729," says Mr. John Wes- 
ley, " my brother and I read the Bible ; saw inward 
and outward holiness therein, followed after it, and 



GLORY OF TEE GOSPEL DISPENSATION. I/O 

incited others to do so. In 1737 we saw this holi- 
ness comes by faith. In 1738 we saw we must be 
justified before we are sanctified. But still holiness 
was our point, inward and outward holiness. God 
then thrust us out to raise up a holy people/' Meth- 
odism, since that time, has spread over continents, 
established institutions, gathered converts by thou- 
sands and millions, and sent her ministers and mis- 
sionaries into every quarter of the globe ; but, thank 
God ! holiness is still our point, and, in the future 
as in the past, will be the secret of our power and 
prosperity. 

And in the journals of the father of American 
Methodism, Francis Asbury, we find the secret of 
his success in carrying the Gospel over a continent, 
and in laying the foundations of an ecclesiastical 
empire, in such records as these : " I am still sensible 
of my deep insufficiency, and that mostly with regard 
to holiness. It is true, God has given me some gifts, 
but what are they to holiness ? It is for holiness my 
spirit mourns. I wish to walk constantly before God 
without reproof." And again : " Holiness is the 
element of my soul. My earnest prayer is that noth- 
ing contrary to holiness may live in me." Saintly 
man ! who in his preaching journeys out-traveled Wes- 
ley, whose courageous spirit was equal to Luther's 
when he thundered defiance at the Vatican, and who 
in labors and sufferings, to preach the Gospel in 
" the regions beyond," was surpassed only by the 
great apostle to the Gentiles. The holiness for 
which he groaned, and which was the element of his 
soul, he carried, as a flame of fire, from conference 
to conference, from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the 



180 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



Atlantic to the broad, but then sparsely-settled and 
almost unknown valley of the Mississippi. A great, 
growing, spiritual people, intent on holiness and the 
world's salvation, remain as a monument to his faith- 
fulness. 

And Methodism still asks of its young preachers, 
seeking full membership in an annual conference, 
these searching questions : " Have you faith in 
Christ ? Are you going on to perfection ? Do you 
expect to be made perfect in love in this life ? Are 
you groaning after it ? Are you resolved to devote 
yourself wholly to God and his work?" 

Nothing more distinctly or emphatically than these 
questions could reveal the spirit and purpose of the 
denomination. 

2. The doctrine of justification by faith, and the 
witness of the Spirit to our adoption, as the common 
privilege of all believers, must be firmly upheld and 
persistently urged in order that the glory of this 
Gospel manifestation may be fully revealed to the 
children of men. 

These are the verities, the certainties of the Chris- 
tian faith. By these men are grounded and settled 
in their confidence and hope. 

" We are assured," says Froude in a half-skeptical 
strain, " that if the truth be, as we are told, of vital 
moment — vital to all alike, wise and foolish, educated 
and uneducated — the road to it cannot lie through 
any very profound inquiries. We refuse to believe 
that every laborer or mechanic must balance arduous 
historical probabilities and come to a just conclusion 
under pain of damnation." 

Well, the truth is vital — vital to the soul's salva- 



GLORY OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION. 181 

lion ; and, what is more, the road to it does not lie 
through any difficult path. No truth is so easy to 
learn, so ready to comprehend, so clearly demon- 
strated* in its own light, as that which pertains to 
the faith of Christ, and sanctification and eternal life 
through his merits. And whatever other religious 
bodies may have done, Methodism* certainly has 
never gone balancing " historical probabilities " to 
find the place of the sanctuary of the Most High, or 
asking others to do so, " under pain of damnation." 
It has chiefly dealt with the fundamental truths — 
man's ruin by sin, the full provision of mercy in 
Christ, and the undoubted salvation of every soul 
who will come to God by him. And a wayfaring 
man, though a fool, can find this path. 

To much better purpose, this distinguished writer 
has said, in another place, considering the religious 
characters of Erasmus and Luther : " You will mis- 
take me if you think I represent Erasmus as a man 
without conscience, or belief in God and goodness. 
But in Luther that belief was a certainty ; in Eras- 
mus it was only a high probability, and the difference 
between the two is not merely great — it is infinite." 
Now, in the light of Christ's teachings, and with the 
office and work of the Holy Spirit, all earnest disci- 
ples of the Lord Jesus come to know that they have 
passed from death unto life, and have been made 
heirs of eternal salvatio-n. What a source is this of 
consolation ! What a power of resistance against 
the surging tides of infidelity ! What a glory of 
Messiah's reign ! 

3. The light and blessedness of this Gospel dis- 
pensation, we must also remark, could not be made 



1 82 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

known to men without evangelical and missionary 
zeal and labor. Every Christian, in the very genius 
and inspiration of his divine life, is a disciple-maker. 
It is a necessity that he should be a propagandist of 
his faith. His experience is a constant incentive to 
missionary activity. He must preach a gospel which 
burns like fire in his bones. The story of the cross 
is a story to be told. The love of Jesus is not a love 
to be hidden from men. As the Son of God came a 
messenger from the Father to the world, so has he 
sent forth all his followers to be messengers of the 
same sufficient grace to the sojils of perishing men. 
And this is the end, and the only legitimate end, of a 
Church organization — to make Christ manifest to the 
world. 

At one of his early conferences Mr. Wesley in- 
quired, " Have we a right view of our work ? " It 
was answered, " Perhaps not. It is not to take care 
of this or that society, or to preach so many times, 
but to save as many souls as we can, to bring as many 
sinners as we can to repentance, and with all our 
power to build them up in that holiness without which 
they cannot see the Lord." 

And a Church which manifests its living Head and 
shows forth the superior advantages of the Gospel 
dispensation will be missionary in its longing and 
work as well as evangelical. It will covet the ends 
of the earth for Christ's kingdom, and it will make 
persistent efforts to attain them. There is not such 
an aggressive body on earth as the Christian Church, 
nor one which has such just expectations of conquest 
and power. The success of Dr. Carey, in India, sug- 
gested to the Baptist Missionary Society the motto, 



GL OB T OF THE Q OSPEL DI8PEN8A TION. 1 8 3 



" Attempt great things for God ; expect great things 
from God." They ought to be written over the door 
of every church, and deeply impressed on the heart 
of every Christian. 

4. Finally, a peculiar glory of the Gospel dispensa- 
tion is that its light shines into the heart of child- 
hood, and one of its great sources of power is the fact 
that it includes even babes in its covenant grace, teach- 
es them to lisp the Saviour's praises, and leads them 
up to manhood in the service of Israel's King. The 
Church is largely a teaching, conserving, and dis- 
ciplinary institution, and, as such, children are the 
most hopeful subjects of its care, training, and watch- 
ful labors. And the Church which gives itself most 
thoroughly to the work of instructing and evangeliz- 
ing the young will be the most growing, prosperous, 
and powerful Church in the earth. But it is essen- 
tial that the children should be converted as well as 
taught, and when converted exercised and disciplined 
in Christian holiness and usefulness. This is a fun- 
damental point. The children must be led to expe- 
rience and know the love of Jesus, and then treated 
as other Christians, organized and employed in the 
service of the Master. It is the great, all-compre- 
hensive glory of this Gospel dispensation, and it 
brings the race, as such, to God, so that whosoever 
will may be saved. 

I have two words in conclusion : 

1. The first is admonition. Great light brings 
great obligations, and the chief obligation is faithful- 
ness. You must endure — must endure to the end. 
Persevering grace is the crowning grace. It is said 
that when the ruins of Pompeii were excavated, a few 



1 84 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



years ago, the skeletons of its inhabitants were found 
in the very places in which the lava-flood had buried 
them. Some were found in their bed-chamber, some 
were hidden in cellars, and others were in the atti- 
tude of running through the streets with their bags 
of gold. Close by the city gates a Roman sentinel 
was found, standing at his post, and still grasping his 
spear. While the deluge of fire, and ashes, and lava 
was ingulfing him, there he stood, and there he has 
been standing for a thousand years ! 

What an example of fidelity and devotion ! And 
when Christ shall come, where will you be found ? 
Standing at your post ? Engaged in your Redeemer's 
work ? Or in worldliness, indulgence, and sin ? 
" Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when 
he cometh, shall find watching." 

2. The second word is consolation. He who has 
done so much for us will not fail us, but will go with 
us to the end.- When Wallace, the Irish delegate, 
died at Cincinnati, away from home and friends, and 
before he had accomplished his mission, he said : " I 
can leave all my concerns in the hands of Jesus." 
Blessed confidence ! Every Christian may feel it, 
living or dying, and, resting on this rock, the surging 
waves neither of time nor eternity can move him. 



TEE LONG WAITING FOB GOD. 185 



XXIV. 

THE LONG WAITING FOR GOD. 

u Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save 
us." — Is a. xxv, 9. 

The splendid picturings of prophecy, the rich pro- 
visions of redemption, the divine sufficiency, and the 
world's necessities, lead us to expect triumphs of 
Gospel grace among men, and beneficent results 
of Christian labor, which are not realized. By this 
apparent failure and certain delay the faith of the 
Church is greatly tried, while gainsayers mock and 
infidels revile, saying, " Where is the promise of his 
coming ? " 

There is no question in regard to the fact of the 
long waiting of God to bring salvation. " Provi- 
dence," says Guizot, " takes one step ; ages have 
elapsed." The Psalmist sighs repeatedly, as he be- 
holds the desolations of Zion and hears the boastings 
of the heathen, " How long ?" How long it was be- 
fore Christ came to redeem the world ! How many 
centuries have since elapsed, and yet how small a 
portion of the race is evangelized ! How many mill- 
ions have gone into eternity without ever having 
heard the name of Jesus ! How often is the Church 
hindered, and communities and generations left in 
darkness and sin, because, as it would seem, God 
does not raise up the right instrumentalities* — men 



1 86 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



of wealth, knowledge, piety, high designs, and broad 
and far-reaching views — to accomplish his work ! 
Dr. Bushnell has published a book on " The Moral 
Uses of Dark Things ; " but of all the dark things 
which he discusses, nothing is so dark as this provi- 
dential delay in works of goodness, which the illus- 
trious divine does not so much as mention. 

A solution of the problem is difficult, and, perhaps, 
impossible ; but there are two or three considera- 
tions which may relieve our minds and comfort our 
hearts. 

""This is our God," who administers the affairs of 
the universe, in a way, to be sure, which we cannot 
comprehend, but which is most assuredly in accord- 
ance with infinite wisdom and love. Consider, it is 
God ! And he has made us capable of the cognition 
of himself. Though we do not know him perfectly, 
yet, so far as we know him at all, we may know him 
truly. He is not an idol, a myth, an apotheosis, nor 
an archangel, but the unoriginated, absolute, eternal 
and all-sufficient God. He is infinite in wisdom, 
goodness, power, and love, and, therefore, incompre- 
hensible to the loftiest of created intelligences. No 
marvel that to us his ways, even when glowing in the 
light of a divine manifestation, are past finding out ! 

" He is our God." This supposes that personal 
relations with the Highest is the privilege of his re- 
deemed. And the Scripture narratives teach us the 
same truth. Abraham was the friend of God, as well 
as the father of the faithful ; Enoch walked with God 
in the close companionship of trust and love ; God 
communed with Moses in the thick cloud which en- 
shrined the glory of the divine Presence ; John was 



THE LONG WAITWG FOB GOD. 



187 



the beloved disciple of a Master whom angels wor- 
shiped ; Paul, who judged himself unworthy to be 
called an apostle, because he had persecuted the 
saints of God, was caught up into the third heavens 
and heard unutterable things ; and it is the privilege 
of every believer to look toward the throne of infinite 
Majesty, and to say, " My Father " — to contemplate a 
dying, risen, and interceding Saviour, and to exclaim, 
in the assurance of an unfailing faith, "Who loved 
me and gave himself for mel" And though mysteries 
remain, dark and inexplicable, even in this confidence 
of love, and despite all the illumination of the Spirit, 
yet the assurance that it is "our God," whose long 
delay is so trying, and whose administration is so 
incomprehensible, enables us to trust though we 
cannot understand, and to wait through the weary 
years, in joyful confidence that what we know not 
now we shall know hereafter. 

Moreover, it may be said, perhaps, that the aim 
of Divine Providence in the administration of human 
affairs is the production of character in man, and that 
this result will abundantly compensate for any delay, 
loss, or trial to which the race is subjected. That 
which we call character, that is, tried and established 
virtue, is of more value, even in a single human 
being, than the whole material universe of God ; and, 
indeed, of so great value as to be incapable of estima- 
tion except by the infinite Mind. But character is 
not an ephemeral production; it does not spring up 
with tropical quickness, and is, moreover, impossible 
of creation ; but it is the result of knowledge, disci- 
pline, training, trial, proof; and these require time. 
How our idea of the Supreme, for instance, must 



1 88 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



grow as we see more of him in his works and ways ; 
and how immensely character is affected by our con- 
ception of God ! It has been often observed that 
the principles of morality are the same, and that 
man's moral nature is the same, in every age ; but 
character is the conformation of manhood to these 
principles, and by these standards the Almighty tries 
and proves every generation and every individual 
of the race. The foulest crimes, without doubt, are 
the involuntary, which flow from the depraved soul 
unconsciously, through the power of aftect'ion and 
habit. 

Human progress, with its great commanding ele- 
ments of virtue, knowledge, and industry, can only be 
realized by growth and time. And law, science, gov- 
ernment, civilization, all those things which are most 
esteemed among men, and which are of greatest 
value to the race, are, in the very nature of the case, 
growths. The world has had to wait for them 
through toilful and burdened years and centuries. 
Besides, we must not lose from sight the moral unity 
of the race, and the interest which every generation 
has in the labors, sufferings, and acquisitions of every 
preceding generation. " Let it not be grievous to 
you," said the Puritans in England to the feeble band 
of colonists which landed from the Mayflower on 
Plymouth Rock, " that you have been instruments to 
break the ice for others ; the honor shall be yours 
to the world's end." Not only all the past, but all 
the future, belongs to man. Of many a hero-martyr 
it may be said, as Whittier has sung : 

"Thine was the seed-time; God alone 
Beholds the end of what is sown; 



THE LONG WAITING FOR GOD. 



Beyond our vision, weak and dim, 
The harvest-time is hid with him. 
Yet, imforgotten where it lies, 
That seed of generous sacrifice, 
Though seeming on the desert cast, 
Shall rise with bloom and fruit at last." 

Our highest satisfaction, moreover, is in those 
things which come to us as growths. A gradually 
accumulated fortune ; a path of honor, ascended step 
by step, till the golden, starlit summit is reached; an 
affection which has come to maturity amid the 
labors, watchings and burdens of years, like conjugal 
love in its ripeness and perfection, or a mother's joy 
in her son grown to a virtuous manhood ; of how 
much more worth are these than a shoddy possession, 
a sudden splendor, and a career of soft and enervat- 
ing luxury, with no heroic memories, no tender 
recollections of sacrifice and forbearance, and no 
welding of heart-confidences in the fiery furnace of 
common afflictions ! There is said to be such a 
thing as love at first sight, which flashes out like a 
meteor on the thick darkness ; but a great love is 
certainly a growth, and by toil and trial and trust it 
is proved and perfected, till it is set like a star in the 
heavens, insphered and eternal, or like another sun 
which illumines the very clouds, and makes the 
dreariest pathway bright with its rosy beams. 

And men may love Jesus when first they see his 
face and hear his voice ; but they will know more 
about love for Christ when they have followed him 
for years ; met with him the denials, sophisms, and 
scoffs of Pharisees, infidels, and hypocrites ; stood 
with him on Tabors illuminated summit, and felt the 
joy of a divine communion ; gone with him into the 



190 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



judgment-hall of Pilate ; fainted with him under the 
fearful burden of the cross ; combated with him the 
powers of death and hell ; cried out with him, in the 
utter agony of earthly desolation, " My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and rejoiced and 
triumphed with him, in perfect submission to the 
Father's will, and in the calm assurance of an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and an eternity of exaltation and 
happiness. 

The highest glory of the divine character is for- 
bearance — the infinite patience of love — and this is 
also the crowning Christian grace : " Let patience 
have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and 
entire, wanting nothing." But patience supposes 
trial and contradiction, and involves the necessity of 
waiting and suffering. It is the power of cheerful 
endurance. It is thus that Christians become par- 
takers of Christ's suffering and glory. 

Then let us wait and watch with patience and 
hope. " Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for 
him, and lie will save 21s ! " He will; he has prom- 
ised, and his word cannot fail. He will save us ; we 
shall find complete deliverance, assurance, exalta- 
tion, honor, and glory through his matchless grace. 
Then let us cling to the promise, and trust, and not 
be afraid ; for " His going forth is prepared as the 
morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as 
the latter and former rain unto the earth." 



THE PRIVILEGES OF THE SONS OF GOD. 191 



XXV. 

THE PRIVILEGES OF THE SONS OF GOD. 

4, To tb em gave he power [privilege] to become the sons of God." 
John i. 12. 

This Christmas season, reminding us all of the in- 
carnation of the world's Redeemer, is an appropriate 
time for considering the privileges of the sons of 
God ; for it is only because of the manifestation, 
expiatory sufferings, and living intercessions of that 
Divine Jesus who was proclaimed by the prophets, 
foreshadowed by types and sacrifices, heralded by 
angels, and " declared to be the Son of God with 
power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the res- 
urrection from the dead," that any of us are able to 
attain adoption and heirship to eternal life. 

What a view this passage gives us of the dignity, 
majesty, and kingly authority of the Son of God ! 
He has the exalted privileges of the sons of God to 
bestow. He can bring men into this high and enno- 
bling relation. He can enrich the sons of men with 
all the advantages which follow adoption into the 
household of faith, And he who can thus uplift, 
purify, transform, aggrandize, and superbly endow 
our poor, sinful, degraded humanity, must stand at 
the head of the universe, and possess a nature which 
is incomprehensible to finite minds. 



192 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



And what is this gift which the Son of God has to 
bestow ? It is the right, power, privilege to become 
the sons of God. It takes these three italicised 
words to express the meaning of the original Greek. 
Bengel defines it as " the capability, tlie inner-enabling ; 
for/' he reasons, " by being sons of God, John means 
an actual partaking of the divine nature? Unques- 
tionably the adoption of sons is of such value and im- 
portance as only celestial intelligences can properly 
estimate ; and in the relation certain rights or privi- 
leges inhere, as possessions or prerogatives, which are 
the princely endowments of the accepted children of 
the Most High. Let us consider these privileges of 
the sons of God. 

Entire deliverance from sin and all its disabilities 
must of course be realized. It is sin which makes 
men aliens and strangers to the commonwealth of 
Israel, and to the God and Father of all grace. Sin, 
therefore, must be destroyed ; its guilt must be par- 
doned, its pollution purged, its bondage broken, and 
its punishment averted. For this marvelous deliver- 
ance the Gospel scheme provides as an immediate re- 
sult. But there are consequences of sin, such as 
physical disorder, the general derangements, and oft- 
times serious sufferings, growing out of the fallen 
condition of the world and inexorable law of mortali- 
ty to which all are subject, from which there can be 
no immediate release. But of ultimate deliverance 
the sons of God are assured, It is part of their in- 
heritance. Even death will be counter-worked and 
overcome by a glorious resurrection to an immortal 
life. Every disability produced by transgression 
will be removed as soon as the scheme of the divine 



THE PRIVILEGES OF THE SONS OF GOD. 1 93 



government will permit, That scheme is beneficent, 
though it does not exclude sorrow, temptation, and 
trial, but uses them as forces for purification and en- 
noblement. The believer, therefore, finds his ad- 
vantage in the delay, and when the full deliverance 
comes it will be all the more joyful and glorious. 

Access to God, communion with him, a divine 
fellowship in Christ, the conscious indwelling and 
leading of the Holy Ghost, with the exaltation and 
happiness certain to follow, are the manifest privi- 
leges of the sons of God. This is Christian synthe- 
ism ; and those who experience its reality constitute 
the only genuine order of nobility on the face of the 
earth. They can come to the Highest, at all times, 
with the greatest freedom and the fullest confidence, 
presenting every interest of their souls at the throne 
of heavenly grace, and committing their future for 
both worlds, with unquestioning assurance, into the 
hands of their reconciled and loving Father and God. 
The power of faith and prayer is sufficient to lift the 
soul into a new plane of life and experience. And 
those who are accustomed thus to approach their 
heavenly Father become convinced of his interest 
in the least things which concern his children, and 
of his desire that they may be, to use Bloomfield's 
words, a as happy in this world and the next as infi- 
nite goodness, under the guidance of infinite wisdom, 
can make them." " Behold," therefore, "what manner 
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
should be called the sons of God ! " 

In regard to the great future, the doctrine of the 
Scriptures is clear and determinate : " For as many 
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 

13 



194 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



of God." "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, 
and joint-heirs with Christ." The believer, then, is 
a joint-heir with Jesus, the only-begotten and eternal 
Son. Why a joint-heir ? Because an heir. Why an 
heir ? Because, by adoption, a son. How does he 
know that he is a son ? Because he is led by the 
spirit of God. The logical connection is complete 
from the leading of the Spirit to co-heirship with the 
Lord Jesus — the Prince of Life. And this shows 
how great, how magnificent, how imperishable the 
inheritance of the saints ! How inestimable the 
privilege of becoming co-inheritor with the Son of 
God to his kingdom, throne, dominion, happiness, 
and glory ! And this exaltation, honor, and felicity 
are within our reach — the present assurance of an 
everlasting possession. " Wherefore come out from 
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, 
and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons 
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Such are 
the rights, privileges, immunities, of the sons of God. 

But these privileges are gracious — the bestowment 
of infinite goodness and love. They are obtained 
only through faith in Christ. They belong " to them 
that believe on his name," that is, in Jesus himself as 
the way, and the only way, of life and salvation ; for 
the words, "His name" as Whedon affirms, "stand 
for all that his name comprehends. Our faith must 
embrace Christ in his fullness. And with how tran- 
scendent a fullness does the evangelist's description 
endow him ! To receive him is faith in act. It is 
not, as Olshausen says, a mere sitsceptibility, but an 
activity ; an appropriation of Christ by a free putting 



THE PRIVILEGES OF THE SONS OF GOD. 1 95 

forth of the will? Faith in Christ, therefore, as the 
Son of God, having power and authority to bestow 
the privilege of sonship on those who are regenerated 
to a new life by his Holy Spirit, is the means of all 
the right, acceptance, endowment, dignity, exaltation, 
happiness, glory which we obtain under the Gospel. 
" For ye are all the children of God, by faith in 
Christ Jesus/' 

"Sons of God!" How distinguished and tran- 
scendent the honor ! And yet it is to strangers and 
enemies that this gracious immunity is proffered ! 
How infinite the mercy of the Gospel ! 

" Sons of God ! " How much is implied in being 
the children of such a Father ! What more can we 
desire if we have God for our Father? He knows 
what things we need. He is mindful of our slightest 
necessities. And he is able to fill our being's largest 
capacities with his own infinite fullness. 

" Sons of God ! " How carefully ought we to walk, 
in what ways of holiness, with what love and charity 
toward men, who claim to be the children of the 
Highest ! 

" Sons of God ! " If we are truly such, we shall 
come, one day, to our Father's house and bosom, 
safe sheltered from the-storms of time, for the endless 
repose and bliss of heaven. 



196 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XXYI. 

CHRISTIAN WOMEN, GOSPEL HELPERS. 

"Help those women which labored with me in the Gospel." — 
Phil. iv. 3. 

The elevation of woman marks the progress of 
Christian civilization. The Gospel is for all classes 
and conditions, but especially for the poor, weak, 
dependent classes. To woman, therefore, it has been 
an evangel of light and joy. Its principles have 
been her defense, and its triumph has been her de- 
liverance, exaltation, and happiness. The Gospel 
asserts the absolute equality of woman with the other 
sex in the provisions of the atonement, guards the 
sanctity of her person and home, gives her perfect 
freedom of access to the altars of God, makes her the 
anointed priestess of childhood, and calls her to 
activities in the Church of Christ in which she may 
usefully and happily employ her noblest powers. 

I consider the New Testament recognition of 
woman, in view of the time of its composition, and 
the ideas which then prevailed, and do still prevail, 
in Oriental countries in respect to women, as one 
of the proofs of its divine origin. 

Jesus, born of a woman, was ministered unto by 
devoted members of the sex in all his life and labors. 
When he hung on the cross, " many women were 



CHRISTIAN WOMEN, GOSPEL HELPERS. 197 



there beholding afar off;" and " certain women," 
who "were early at the sepulcher," greatly " aston- 
ished " the apostles by a report of a " vision of 
angels," and celestial testimony to the fact of the 
resurrection of the Son of God from the dead. " Last 
at the cross and first at the sepulcher," is not more 
a tribute to the faithfulness of woman than it is a 
revelation of the genius of the Gospel. One of the 
most important of our Lord's discourses was deliv- 
ered to a single auditor, and that a Samaritan woman. 
When the disciples came they "marveled that he 
talked with the woman," a thing which no Jewish 
doctor would have done in a public place. But Jesus, 
while he denounced the sins, also defied the preju- 
dices of his countrymen. The tender regard of the 
world's Redeemer for the family at Bethany can 
never be forgotten, nor the fact that this household 
was two thirds of the gentler sex. The record is : 
" Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Laz- 
arus." And did the Lord of life ever pronounce a 
higher eulogy on any human being than on that 
woman of whom he said, " She hath done what she 
could ? " 

The historic period covered by the Acts of the 
Apostles is also rich in its testimony touching the 
relation of woman to the Church. u The women " 
are specially mentioned as included in the first 
prayer-meeting which was protracted into Pentecost. 
The divinely inspired account of the introduction of 
the Gospel into Philippi, " the chief city of that part 
of Macedonia and a colony," is in these w r ords : "And 
on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river- 
side, where prayer was wont to be made ; and we 



igS SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted 
thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller 
of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped 
God, heard us : whose heart the Lord opened, that 
she attended unto the things which were spoken of 
Paul. And when she was baptized, and her house- 
hold, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me 
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and 
abide there. And she constrained us." 

It was, then, a company of women which was 
addressed ; one of these, Lydia, was converted and 
baptized, and her house became at once the home 
of the messengers of salvation. " Chief women n 
and " honorable women " are frequently mentioned 
as having believed, and engaged in the work of 
spreading the Gospel. 

Whether in the constitution of the Christian 
Church, in the time of the apostles, women were 
designated for important offices ; whether the deacon- 
ess and the female presbyter or elder were creations 
of the apostolic or of a somewhat later period, is a 
question which I shall not presume to decide. There 
are some passages which seem to indicate that women 
were ordained, by the apostles, for the instruction of 
their own sex, for the visitation of the poor, and to 
labor in the Gospel ; but the interpretations of the 
ablest critics do not harmonize, and there is great 
weight of learning and authority on both sides. 

There can be no doubt, however, that the baptism 
of the Spirit and the life of God in the soul moved 
women as well as men to put forth earnest endeavors to 
propagate the Gospel faith ; and it was, moreover, a 
necessity, especially in the Grecian and Asiatic 



CHRISTIAN WOMEN GOSPEL HELPERS. 1 99 



countries visited by the apostles, to employ largely 
the agency of devout women to teach those of their 
own sex, and to visit, relieve, and comfort them in 
their distresses, for the reason that the apostles, 
because of the social customs which prevailed, could 
have scarcely any access to the women of these 
sections. It is certain that the order of " deacon- 
ess " existed in the early Church, and it has been 
argued, with great plausibility, that the germ of it 
must have existed in the Apostolic Church itself. 
The duties of those who held this position, according 
to Tertullian, were not to teach, nor baptize, nor 
administer the sacrament, nor arrogate to themselves 
any manly function or priestly office ; but their 
work seems to have been the visitation of the sick 
and poor and those who were in prison, especially 
of their own sex, and to exercise a general oversight 
over the female members of the Church, making 
occasional reports to the bishops and presbyters. 

" Help those women," says the apostle, "who," as 
Macknight renders, " for the Gospel have combated 
together with me" — that is, like those engaged in 
the Isthmian games, have wrestled, or contended, 
with me, for the faith of Christ. " The word does 
not imply/' says Benson, " preaching, or any thing 
of that kind, but opposition, danger, and toil endured 
for the sake of the Gospel." 

The personal salutations, in the sixteenth of Ro- 
mans, honorably mention a number of tireless, self- 
sacrificing, and heroic women who labored much in 
the Lord, who " laid down their own necks " to 
preserve the life of the great apostle to the Gentiles, 
and who were chosen, beloved, and sainted. Of Phrebe, 



200 SHORT SERMONS OX CONSECRATION. 



the most eminent of these women-workers, the serv- 
ant, or deaconess, of the Church at Cenchrea, and the 
succorer, or patroness of many, including Paul him- 
self, and who carried this epistle from Corinth to the 
Romans, Whedon says : " The ability and eminence 
of Phoebe appears from the apostle's earnest com- 
mendation, from these her titles, from her travel and 
business, and, as Renan,in his flippant style, expresses 
it, 1 she bore in the folds of her robe the whole future 
of the Christian theology — the writing which was to 
regulate the fate of the world.' M 

It is plain, therefore, that Christianity has, from 
the. first, honored woman, recognized her power of use- 
fulness, incited her to genial labors of charity and 
beneficence, commended her diligence in the service 
of her divine Master, and carried her forward and 
upward, with the advancing conquests of a Christian 
civilization, to a purer life, a higher culture, and a 
grander destiny. 

If, then, Christian women are Gospel helpers, and 
have a great work to do for the furtherance and tri- 
umph of the [Messiah's kingdom, how, we may ask, 
can they best employ their faculties and improve 
their opportunities in the fulfillment of their sublime 
mission ? 

In order to their widest usefulness there are some 
things that ought to be avoided, of which two only 
shall be mentioned. 

i. The first is extravagance in dress. 

It may not be true that vanity and love of admi- 
ration are besetting sins of the sex, but it does seem 
unquestionable that a disposition to adorn her per- 
son is deeply imbedded in woman's nature. And 



CHRISTIAN WOMEN, GOSPEL HELPERS. 201 



many of the sins, whether of men or women, are 
because of excess in such things as within legitimate 
bounds are right and proper. It is certain, also, that 
the Scriptures admonish women to "adorn them- 
selves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and 
sobriety ; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or 
costly array ; but, which becometh women professing 
godliness, with good works." 

Especially should Christian women dress plainly 
at church, and in the visitation of the poor. A style 
of dress calculated to attract attention, to excite 
envy, to humiliate the poor by striking contrasts with 
their own meager wardrobes, to gratify vanity by dis- 
play, and pride by ostentation, and to distract the 
minds of the worshipers, is certainly wholly out of 
place in the sanctuary of God. And a wealthy woman 
who cannot consent to wear the plainest garments in 
the visitation of the poor at their own houses had 
better abandon at once her mission of assumed 
beneficence. The reasons are obvious to any 
thoughtful mind. 

I think a great deal of the alleged extravagance 
of women is imposed on them by husbands and 
fathers, who desire in this way to proclaim their 
own wealth and social consequence, and who use 
their wives and daughters for this purpose precisely 
as the dry-goods' dealer uses his dummies for the 
display of his fabrics. It must be said, however, that 
this is a species of tyranny to which most women 
submit with a remarkable degree of resignation. But 
the Christian woman who desires to do the most for 
her Master will not be inconsiderate to so small a 
matter as that of dress, and will deny herself in this, 



202 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION, 



as in other directions, that she may win souls to 
Christ, and accomplish the greatest possible good for 
the cause of God. 

2. In the second place, it should be observed that 
any woman w T ho neglects home duties for the sake 
of public activity in any direction, however noble, 
beneficent, and Christian, rather hinders than helps 
the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world. 
" Let them learn first to show piety at home *' is a 
rule of universal application. To bring up children, 
to lodge strangers, to wash the saints' feet and to re- 
lieve the afflicted, are as honorable now as in the days 
of the apostle. The divine requirement of all women 
who would be active in the Church is such " behav- 
ior as becometh holiness " — that they be " discreet, 
chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own 
husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." 
The Church has many effective workers, in the ranks 
of her nobje women, whose light shines brightest by 
their own hearth-stones, whose ministrations of love are 
most hallowed and heavenly at their own home altars, 
and whose own children, as well as the inmates of 
orphan asylums, will rise up and call them blessed. 

There are many things which a Christian woman 
can do, without any neglect of home duties, for the 
advancement of Christ's cause in the earth. Let us 
briefly enumerate : 

1. She can, by her personal exertions, increase the 
congregations in all our churches ; and it is no 
small matter to bring careless souls to hear the word 
of God. 

2. She can give a healthy tone to society. She 
can exert her influence in favor of temperance, social 



CHRISTIAN WOMEN, GOSPEL HELPERS, 203 



reform, purity of morals, honest industry, and real 
worth. She can show that she thinks more of a man 
than his clothes — that she is not ashamed to take an 
upright laborer by the hand, but does shrink from 
the touch of a libertine despite his wealth and dis- 
tinctions. She can honor her own sex, and promote 
its culture, education, and influence, saving society, 
at once, from what is frivolous and what is impure. 
She can carry the religion of Jesus into any circle, 
for no skeptic dare sneer at her. She is the prophet- 
ess of God, chosen and anointed for the sanctifica- 
tion of society, if not for the salvation of the world. 

3. Christian women are ministering angels for 
the sick and poor. It has often been told that the 
English soldiers in the Crimean hospitals used to kiss 
the shadow of Florence Nightingale as it fell on their 
pillows. Many noble American women greatly hon- 
ored Christ and served humanity in our hospitals 
during the recent fratricidal strife. Women have 
access to the sick and poor, especially of their own 
sex, in every community, which no man, not even 
a minister of the Gospel, can secure ; and they come 
with a gentler step, a softer touch, and a kindlier 
tone, which makes them doubly welcome. 

" Christianity does not so much exalt woman," a 
woman has said, " as exalt service ; by making of 
those lowly offices it is the lot of woman to exercise 
a work as high as Gabriel's — ' doing the pleasure of 
God* — the Gospel does not emancipate woman, but 
makes service free." 

4. That women, as well as men, can do much for 
the promotion of the material, as well as the spiritual, 
interests of the Church, the whole history of Chris- 



204 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



tianity proves. The finishing of the Tabernacle was 
accomplished on this wise : 

" And they came, both men and women, as many 
as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and 
ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold : 
and every man that offered, offered an offering of 
gold unto the Lord. And all the women that were 
wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought 
that which they had spun, both of blue, and of pur- 
ple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen." It requires 
the labors, sacrifices, tears, and offerings of both men 
and women to build the temple of God in this 
world. 

The grandest opportunities are presented for such 
labors and contributions and noble achievements 
to the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
not only in the ordinary duties and privileges of the 
Church, but in the operations of the " Woman's 
Foreign Missionary Society" and of the "Ladies' 
and Pastors' Christian Union," both of which truly 
beneficent and Christian organizations have been 
recognized and indorsed by the General Conference, 
and commended to the sympathy and support of the 
Church. Devout women cannot, any more than con- 
secrated pastors, disregard or neglect these mighty 
agencies for extending the kingdom and hastening 
the coming of the Son of God. 

I remark, finally, that women need these exercises, 
which Christianity imposes as duty and reveals as 
privilege, in order to health, mental growth, and spir- 
itual progress. 

i. They need them for health. Dr. Bushnell says 
of our New England mothers : " If they were some- 



CHRISTIAN WOMEN, GOSPEL HELPERS, 20$ 



times drudged by their over-intense labor, still they 
were kept by it in a generally rugged state both of 
body and mind. They kept a good digestion, which 
is itself no small part of a character. The mothers 
spent their nervous impulse on their muscles, and 
had so much less need of keeping down the excess, 
or calming the unspent lightning, by doses of anodyne. 
In the play of the wheel they spun fiber too within, 
and in the weaving wove it close and firm." 

Invention, art, and the progress of physical science, 
have emancipated woman from the loom and the 
wheel, and many other forms of domestic servitude ; 
and for health, muscle, and physical vigor she now 
needs intenser occupations in the way of Christian 
beneficence. Thus only can she be saved from a life 
of fashion, folly, and physical decay. * 

2. For mental growth. Increase of faculty and in- 
tellectual power cannot be secured by any human being 
without thought, activity, and collision of mind with 
mind. The brain, to be kept growing and vigorous, 
must be fed with the truths of nature and God. And 
if women would be the companions of men, they 
must have corresponding culture and development. 
They must not permit their husbands and brothers 
to outgrow them. Not only by reading and study, 
but also by active contact with great interests, by 
endeavoring to comprehend and settle great ques- 
tions, are men educated. For mental growth, women 
must seize and try to handle even such gigantic 
problems as the world's redemption. 

3. And also for spiritual progress. How can a 
woman, any more than a man, grow in grace with- 
out activity, energy, ancLzeal ? The Gospel is spiritual 



206 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



life, and, on its highest plane, deals with us not as men 
and women, but as rational and immortal souls. And 
the souls, whether of men or women, receiving most 
of Christ's image, and doing most of Christ's work 
in the earth, will shine the brightest in the everlast- 
ing kingdom. 



GROWTH IN CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 2QJ 



XXVII. 

THE CHILD'S GROWTH IN CHRISTIAN 
CHARACTER. 



"Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
Eph. vi, 4. 

How to secure a child's most rapid growth in Chris- 
tian character is a question of more than ordinary- 
importance. It is a question which greatly concerns 
the child itself, as well as his parents, his religious 
teachers, the Church, and the world. The question 
supposes that the child has a Christian character — 
that he has become a Christian, and has, in some 
measure, that strength of principle, power of resist- 
ance, purity of affection, and beneficence of disposi- 
tion which, in the best sense of the word, constitute 
character. The capacity for growth is also assumed, 
so that we have neither of these points to argue, 
enforce, or illustrate. The only question is, How can 
this growth in Christian character be secured ? 

In the first place, let it be observed that God is 
the great worker on character. To perfect sentient 
beings, possessed of intelligence and free volition, in 
those moral dispositions which are the crowning glory 
of his own nature, would seem to be the grand pur- 
pose of the Supreme Governor in the administration of 
the affairs of the universe. To our fallen world God 
has given, for the accomplishment of this object, 



208 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



the Church, the Civil Government, and the Family. 
This is the trinity of divine institutions, closely related 
to each other, and neither of them existing in perfec- 
tion without the other, through which our Lord and 
King seeks to bring in everlasting righteousness. The 
family is especially for the child — for his care, nurture, 
growth, and establishment in manly and Christian 
character. To maintain the household, then, to 
guard its purity, to place on it the divine sanction, 
to reconvert it into its original Eden, to kindle on its 
altars the fires of Christian love, and to recognize and 
uphold it as a divine institution of unimpairable au- 
thority, is a matter of primal consequence for the 
growth of the child in Christian character. The 
Sabbath-school is, at the most, but an expediency of 
usefulness, of great value, to be sure, but by no means 
indispensable. Like the love-feast, it is a means of 
grace ; like the missionary society, it is a mode of 
evangelism ; like the godly family, it is a Christian 
home for childhood ; like the Church, it is a sanctu- 
ary for perishing souls. But it cannot be substituted 
either for the Church or family, and if it were swept 
out of existence the cause of God would not perish 
from the earth. For many centuries the Church did 
its work successfully without the Sunday-school, and 
could do it again if it were necessary. It never disre- 
garded, however, its solemn obligation to provide 
Christian nurture for the young, and it never can be 
oblivious to this duty and build up Christ's kingdom in 
the world. The roots of Christian nurture are in Chris- 
tian households. God, by divine ordinance, has made 
the family the unit of society. Households, and not 
individuals, constitute society. When there shall be 



GROWTH m CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 20g 



no family there will be no State and no Church. 
Civilization, human progress, and all our hopes for the 
future of the race, will perish on dishonored hearth- 
stones. When our households are engulfed in world- 
liness and infidelity, every thing we hold dear — all 
material good, all moral achievement, all spiritual 
realization — will be drawn into the same bewildering 
maelstrom of death and hell. 

We must not, therefore, for a moment, permit the 
thought a place in our minds that the Sabbath-school 
can, in any way, be a substitute for the training and 
culture of Christian homes. It may be a great help 
to godly parents, and it may be a missionary institu- 
tion for impenitent parents, and the youngest child in 
the household may be God's messenger of light. 
And the Sabbath-school accomplishes its greatest 
work when it adds a new charm of sanctity to a 
home already Christian, or when it sends the blessed 
Jesus, fondled to the bosom of a child, into a home 
darkened by misery and sin. 

If we would promote the child's growth in char- 
acter, we must consider that character itself is a 
growth. And because it is a growth, it has no ex- 
ternal source, but roots within. Character is purity 
of motive and desire. It is not what others esteem 
us to be, but what we are in the sight of God. It is 
acting habitually from the highest considerations. 
The Psalmist expressed it when he said of God, 
"Thou desirest truth in the inward parts ; " and he has 
character, in its purity and power, who, " in the hid- 
den " recesses of his being, has been made " to 
know wisdom." Character is not, therefore, a thing 
which we can put on to a child, as we put on its 



2IO SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



clothes. We must inspire in him the elements of a 
pure and noble life. It is not sufficient to choose the 
right thing for him ; he must be led to choose the right 
thing for himself. The heart-hunger for God must 
be awakened in him, and directed to its proper object. 
He must, in some way, be induced to see vice as it 
is, and loathe it ; to see virtue as it is, and love it. A 
power of resistance to low and mean solicitations 
must be aroused in him, and a strength of devotion 
to what is worthy, noble, and Christian. He must be 
enabled to discern how grand and glorious it is to be 
pure in his own eyes, to be good when no commen- 
dation will follow, to be honest when his defalcation 
could not possibly be detected, to be self-denying, 
generous, and magnanimous when only angel eyes 
can read the inspiring record, and to consider it 
more an object to please God, and have his favor and 
love, than to possess the riches and honors of kings. 
This is character, and this is the only true greatness 
possible to man. 

It is sometimes said that the child's mind is like a 
blank sheet of paper, and that you can write on it 
what you please. Well, it may be that the child's 
mind is like a blank sheet of paper, but nobody can 
write on it but the child himself. And when we set 
up as writing-masters for a child, we must remember 
that the world and Satan attempt the same office, 
and, from the perversity of the child's fallen nature, 
he is more inclined to follow r their copies than ours. 
And sometimes Christian parents are startled and 
grieved when they behold what is written, and they 
say, " Where did the child learn the thing ? " Where ? 
Earth and heaven are full of revelations to the heart 



GROWTH IN CHRISTIAN CHAR A CTER. 2 1 1 

of a child. It is not only true, as Wordsworth has 
conceived, that " Heaven lies about us in our in- 
fancy," but it is also true that the subtle spirits of 
evil throng the rosy paths of childhood, eager to 
poison their unsuspecting souls. As early as possible, 
therefore, the child should be taught the doctrine of 
selfhood, should be shown the importance of his 
free activities, and should be inspired with hatred of 
sin, and genuine love for whatsoever things are just, 
honest, true, and of good report, so that he will be 
constantly drawn to write on his soul's tablets the 
words of wisdom and the lessons of salvation. 

Whoever makes a Sunday-school speech, is ex- 
pected to refer to Michael Angelo, beholding the 
beautiful statue imprisoned in the shapeless marble, 
and forthwith going to work, with the sculptor's skill 
and the inspiration of genius, to find the realization 
of his thought, and disclose it to the admiring eyes 
of men. But if any Christian parent or Sunday- 
school teacher supposes that the living child which 
he has to train for Christ and bring to a virtuous 
manhood is at all like this marble statue, he will be 
very much mistaken. There is in this child the 
throb and quiver of an immortal life. There is a 
certain spice of the devil in him. There is an irre- 
pressible disposition to have a hand in carving out 
his own character and destiny. Depend upon it he 
will use the chisel for himself, and oftentimes in the 
most absurd, grotesque, and calamitous ways. Michael 
Angelo never had a problem like this. There is no 
other way for us but to lead this little sculptor to 
some faint appreciation of the value of the material 
on which he works We must show him how he is 



2 1 2 SHOE T SERMONS OX C 0N8E GBA TIOW. 



chiseling out destiny for both worlds, and how much 
he needs the inspiration and guidance of the one 
great artistic Mind of the universe. We shall be of 
value to him, and shape his being and future, just as 
we lead him to earnest efforts of his own to find 
God's grand ideal in his life, and to grow up, in all 
things, into Christ Jesus, his living and fruitful Head. 
If we w r ould fill our gardens with beauty and bloom 
we must bring our rose-trees into a healthful and 
vigorous state, not tie dead roses on their barren 
branches. In other words, we must do like the wise 
physician, who, when he would restore his patient to 
health, depends chiefly on the vital forces, and applies 
his energies to strengthen and develop those forces. 
In the case of the child, the vis vitce itself is impaired ; 
but the blood of Jesus is a healing fountain, and 
where sin has abounded grace has much more 
abounded. We may, therefore, expect the happiest 
results, if w r e only have wisdom to employ right 
methods. And we proceed to inquire, What are 
some of those practical agencies which will certainly 
secure the child's most rapid growth in Christian 
character ? 

i. I mention, in the first place, an atmosphere of 
piety in the home and in the school. What we 
breathe in, every moment, is the principal thing with 
us, either as physical or spiritual beings. Before 
the question of food, even, comes the question of 
atmosphere. What matters it that the earth be fer- 
tile and the heavens genial, if, with every pulsation, 
we inhale malaria and death ? A healthful breeze is 
worth all the sanitary regulations ever devised, be- 
cause it sweeps away the foulness which breeds pesti- 



GROWTH IN CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 



213 



lence, and inspires with recuperative energy every 
function of our natures. In like manner, the soul's 
first necessity is an atmosphere healthful as heaven ; 
and not only healthful, but invigorating and produc- 
tive of growth. I noticed on Cape Cod that the 
.apple-trees clung to the earth as if stunted by the hard 
winters, or as if afraid of being blown into the sea by 
some furious ocean blast. They evidenced the tem- 
perature which prevailed. In like manner, the chil- 
dren in many a household bear silent but impressive 
testimony not only to the spiritual coldness of their 
parents, but even to the fierce gales which sometimes 
beat around the hearth-stones. Roses bloom in a 
hot-house even when the air without is chill with 
March winds ; not because the soil is richer, but be- 
cause the air is blander and the mercury stands 
uniformly high. And if the mercury of piety shall 
go up ten degrees, or twenty degrees, in a family or 
Sabbath-school, w T hat, think you, will be the result ? 
The order of the family may be undisturbed, the 
officers and management of the school may remain 
unchanged, but every child feels the difference, 
though he cannot explain it ; little buds of promise 
begin to open in the genial sunshine, and the air is 
redolent with the breath of flowers ; icy indifference 
and frost-bound prejudices melt away and disappear ; 
the heavens glow with strange beauty, and the glad- 
ness of spring-time steals like a melody into every 
heart. The child's most rapid growth in Christian 
character will certainly be realized in such an atmos- 
phere. And no impressive forms of worship, no 
machinery of religion, no intensity of orthodoxy, no 
beautiful Sunday-school order, in which every thing 



214 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



shall move with military exactness and precision, 
can by any possibility atone for a deficiency in this 
regard. That fervor of piety, that genuine Christ- 
love for a human soul, that earnest solicitude for the 
child's conversion, which he feels even when it is 
not told to him, and which somehow finds a lodg- 
ment in the sanctuary of his being, and ever after 
mingles with his tenderest memories and is the source 
of his purest inspirations — that is the indispensable 
thing in both household and Sabbath-school. Happy 
child, who makes weekly visits to a Sabbath-school 
which is not only the vestibule of the Church, but 
also the gate of heaven ! Happier child, most 
favored of earth, whose daily home-altars glow with 
celestial fires, who breathes perpetually the atmos- 
phere of the skies, and who learns to associate the 
most cherished words of human endearment with the 
name of Jesus and the hope of immortality ! 

2. In the second place, the child must be well and 
judiciously fed in order to secure growth. It re- 
quires bread and beef to make blood and muscle 
and bone/ The truth of God, revealed in his inspired 
word, is the pabulum of souls. This is the corn of 
heaven, the bread of eternal life. Nothing can take 
the place, in family or Sunday-school, of the Holy 
Scriptures. These must be diligently, systematically, 
and thoroughly taught. To teach them in such a 
way as to make them interesting and attractive, 
so that the child shall be drawn to them, find in 
them the sincere milk of the word, and be able to 
grow thereby, and learn to look on them, not as a dry 
book of theology, but as the kind utterances of a lov- 
ing Father, is the great problem of parents and teach- 



GR WTII m CHRISTIAN CHAR A GTER. 2 1 5 



ers. And surely the Bible can be invested with 
these charms if any book can under heaven. Here 
is history, narrative, eloquence, poetry, proverb — 
every thing which is calculated to win the heart of a 
child. Let the Scriptures be always reverently read at 
family worship, let the Sabbath-school lesson be thus 
always reverently read, let the authority of God's word 
be always invoked in the practical direction of life, 
let every child have a Bible of his own, neatly 
printed and bound, and lettered with his name, and 
above all, let him be encouraged to commit, every 
week, some portion of Scripture to memory, and, by 
and by, this precious truth will be in his heart, like 
honey in the cells of the honey-comb, a source 
of strength and refreshment in his time of need. 

3. The child must be subjected to the training of 
Christian discipline — to wholesome restraint, guid- 
ance, and authority — in order to its most rapid ad- 
vancement in the elements of the spiritual life, and 
the speediest attainment of the crowning graces of 
a matured character. The Scripture requirements, 
in this regard, are exolicit and unmistakable : " And 

O ; J. 

the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing 
which I do ? . . . for I know him, that he will com- 
mand his children and his household after him and 
they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and 
judgment." " And these words, which I command 
thee this day, shall be in thine heart ; and thou shalt 
teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall 
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and 
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up." " And ye fathers, 
provoke not your children to wrath ; but bring 



216 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord." 

Dr. Bushnell describes a certain kind of parental 
nurture as " the ostrich nurture/' or the nurture of 
neglect, indifference, and forgetfulness. " It is just 
now beginning to be asserted by some," he says, 
" that the true principle of training for children is ex- 
actly that of the ostrich, namely, no training at all ; 
the best government, no government." Certainly, this 
view has no warrant in the passages which I have 
quoted ; but, on the contrary, the parent is required 
to exercise authority, to furnish example, to teach re- 
ligious truth customarily and persistently ; to govern 
himself, that he may be able to govern his children, and 
to nurture and admonish them in the Lord. Mac- 
knight renders Eph. vi, 4, as follows : " Now, fathers, do 
not provoke your children to wrath ; but bring them 
up in the correction and instruction of the Lord." 
Bloomfield renders the Greek, not " nurture and ad- 
monition," but " education and discipline," and adds : 
" The former term seems to regard the instructory 
part of education, and the latter the corrective part, 
by forming their morals." He also quotes Doddridge 
approvingly, who says that parents are herein taught 
to give their children " such a course of discipline 
and instruction as properly belongs to a religious 
education, which, ought to be employed in forming 
them for the Lord, by laying a restraint upon the first 
appearance of every vicious passion, and nourishing 
them up in the words of faith and good doctrine." 
"■Train up a child," it is said, " in the way he should 
go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
But what does the word " train " signify ? There are 



GEO WTH m CHRISTIAN GHARA GTER. 2 1 7 



those who teach children morals as they teach them 
manners, by precept and repetition and a kind of 
mechanical process which is chiefly effectual in pro- 
ducing external results. In precisely the same way 
a dog is taught to stand on his hind feet, and a colt 
to lead by the halter. The margin renders the Hebrew 
verb by " catechize," which lifts our minds to a demand 
for a higher order of training. Give this child, is the 
requirement, thorough disciplinary instruction. Get 
the truth of God into his soul, so that it shall govern 
him. Train him to employ his own faculties in the 
service of Christ. " Bring them up " — that is, 
nourish, strengthen, educate them — " in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord," is the injunction of the 
apostle. The more wisely, lovingly, and thoroughly 
the children of our households and Sunday-schools 
are thus trained and educated for Jesus, the more 
rapid, harmonious, and beautiful will be their growth 
in Christian character. 

4. Every child is entitled to an example oi Christian 
integrity and purity on the part of those who are 
called to be his parents and teachers. 

History, it has been said, is philosophy teaching by 
example ; but nothing teaches by example like the 
Gospel of Jesus, and children are susceptible of being 
more powerfully influenced in this way than any other 
class of persons in the world. There is a ceaseless 
charm in pictorial teaching, especially for children. 
They are most influenced by what they see, partic- 
ularly in those whom they love and in whom they 
confide. Parents and teachers who would effectually 
lead the young in the way of the most rapid advance- 
ment in Christian character must themselves walk 



21 8 SHORT SEBMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



in the paths of holiness, and show forth the loveliness 
of a consecrated and beneficent life. It has been 
well said that " there is no cheap way of making 
Christians of our children ; nothing but to practically 
live for it makes it sure." If they discern in us a 
worldly mind ; if they see that we are formal rather 
than spiritual ; if they notice that our words, aims, pur- 
poses, enjoyments, and associations are of the earth, 
earthy, and especially if they discover inconsistencies 
and contradictions in our Christian life, how can we 
expect them to be so influenced by our teachings as 
to overcome the counteractive argument of our exam- 
ple, and engage in the service of our Lord and Christ ? 
But if, on the contrary, it shall be manifest that we 
have a life which is not of this world, an informing 
and comforting presence, a peace and assurance which 
are heavenly in their origin, a communion with God 
as a Father and friend which is elevating, transport- 
ing and satisfying, how greatly, even though our 
words of counsel may be disregarded, will such a 
fact influence and mold the being and ways of the 
children we love and teach. It will be, with them, 
the heart's most precious memory ; it will be such a 
demonstration of the reality of experimental religion 
as no infidel argument, however subtle and powerful, 
can ever shake ; and it will create, by our firesides 
and in our school-rooms, an atmosphere of piety, an 
inspiration of love, and a power of spiritual nurture, 
in which the children of the Church will find their 
most rapid growth in all the elements of Christian 
character. 



THE ARMED SUPPLIANT. 



219 



XXVIII. 
THE ARMED SUPPLIANT. 

''Praying always with all prayer." — Eph. vi, 18. 

In the context the apostle clothes the Christian sol- 
dier with a complete armor for his defense, and places 
in his hand withal the sword of the Spirit, to make 
battle against his foes. He is protected in every vul- 
nerable part. He has the helmet of salvation, the 
breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith. 
He is to withstand and, having done all — conquered 
all — still to stand as a triumphant hero on the field 
of conflict. Moreover, he must thrust his enemy 
with the sword of truth, and drive him from the field. 
This looks very much like salvation by works ; but 
the apostle adds, " Praying always with all prayer." 
This drives him to God, in appeal and supplication, 
with a sense of need and dependence, for help and 
deliverance. The man who truly prays will earnestly 
contend for the faith of the Gospel. And he who 
bears the Christian armor, fights the good fight of 
faith, confronts Apollyon and all the enemies of 
Christ, and persistently wages his warfare for the 
final victory, will feel the need of prayer, will learn 
that all his strength is in God, and always, and by 
every sort or species of. supplication, wall seek the 



220 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



mysterious power of the divine Presence. This 
mailed and plumed warrior will lowly bow at a 
throne of grace for the holy chrism, the spiritual 
anointing, the unction from our sacerdotal King, 
in which is strength and victory. 

But "how absurd to pray," says the skeptic. 
" Prayer has nothing to do with morality, and 
could not a wise God supply our wants without 
prayer ? " 

The objection, however, is false in fact. Prayer 
has something to do with morality. There is no 
genuine prayer without repentance, which implies 
the renunciation of sin ; and the renunciation of sin 
is a chief fact in morality. The constant tendency 
of prayer is to arrest the tide of sinful conduct. 
Prayer is aspiration for goodness, for an experience 
of purity, and for a life of practical beneficence like 
that of the Son of God. Are not such aspirations 
seeds of moral excellence? Prayer, moreover, seeks 
blessings, not only for ourselves, but also for others. 
It is, therefore, an unselfish and benevolent spirit, in 
harmony with the noblest aims of morality. Did we 
know, in a word, that any man possessed constantly 
the spirit of prayer, could we distrust either his integ- 
rity or his purity ? Again, prayer brings a man into 
contemplation of, and communion with, the highest 
and holiest Being in the universe — a Being in whom 
infinite wisdom is united with infinite purity. There 
is more in God than in his works — more than in all 
finite powers ; infinitely more ; and this Being 
hates sin with an infinite abhorrence. How is it 
possible that one should contemplate his character, 
habitually dwell in his presence and feast on the 



THE ARMED SUPPLIANT. 



22 r 



riches of his goodness and love, and not learn to hate 
sin also ? And what interest has morality so great as 
that men should learn to loathe sin ? As matter of 
fact, when you take the praying men out of a com- 
munity morality dies out of that community. And 
this is only another form of saying that morality 
roots in spirituality, and that spirituality cannot be 
maintained without prayer. Thus prayer furnishes 
the highest motive to morality, and is its grandest 
inspiration. The praying man does what is just and 
right in his intercourse with his fellows, that he may 
please God, maintain the spiritual life, and rejoice in 
the hope and expectation of a heavenly reward. This 
is a motive which never fails to be operative, suffi- 
cient, and inspiring. It follows, therefore, that prayer 
is the alma mater of a pure and ennobling morality. 

The other part of this objection is, that God could 
supply our wants without prayer. It is granted. He 
could also give us the fruits of industry without toil, 
knowledge without study, and character, perhaps, 
without temptation and trial. Does he? or would it 
be best for us if he should ? It is enough to say that 
such is not the economy of the universe ; and if this 
objector is not satisfied with the economy of God's 
universe, perhaps he had better construct a universe 
of his own. One might easily imagine the Almighty 
saying to such a skeptic : "Where wast thou when I 
laid the foundations of the earth ? when the morning 
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted 
for joy ? Declare if thou hast understanding. 
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days, 
and caused the day-spring to know his place ? Hast 
thou perceived the breadth of the earth ? Declare if 



222 SHOBT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



thou knowest it all. Knowest thou it because thou 
•wast then born ? or because the number of thy days 
is great ? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of 
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? Canst thou 
bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou 
guide Arcturus with his sons ? Shall he that con- 
tendeth with the Almighty instruct him ? He that 
reproveth God, let him answer it." 

Again, it is objected that " as God is omniscient 
he knows what we need before we ask him, and that, 
therefore, we have no occasion to ask him." 

I answer: 

1. This a non sequitur ; the conclusion does not 
follow from the premise. 

2. The objection assumes that the sole office of 
prayer is to inform God of our wants. But this is not 
the sole office of prayer, nor the chief office of prayer, 
nor any part of its office whatever. No intelligent 
Christian supposes for a moment that he adds any 
thing, when he prays, to the stores of divine knowl- 
edge. It is in the popular and not in the pliilosopli- 
ical sense that' men are said to make their wants 
known unto God. 

3. Such a presentation of our necessities to our 
heavenly Father, as is implied in prayer, has many 
advantages, especially as it makes our dependence 
manifest, and enables our faith to grasp the divine 
promise of salvation. 

4. The President of the United States might 
know the wants of all the citizens of this Republic, 
and have the means of supplying them, and yet 
the Constitution of the country make it necessary 
for those wants to be presented to him antecedent 



THE ARMED SUPPLIANT, 



223 



to, and as a condition of, his executive interpo- 
sition. 

A father may know, and often does, the unuttered 
needs of his children ; and may know also that their 
greatest necessity is to come to him for the supply of 
their wants, and that this constitution of things is 
best for them, for the family as a whole, for the com- 
munity, and for the near and remote future. 

Whoever complains of these things complains of 
that constitution of the universe which God in his 
infinite wisdom has established. 

The objection to prayer, based on " man's insig- 
nificance and God's greatness and infinity," has been 
so often answered that it scarcely need be noticed. 

Admit man's insignificance — what then ? A great 
God might overlook him, but an infinite God cannot. 
An infinite God does not need the revelations of the 
microscope any more than of the telescope to find 
out his universe. The highest finite intelligence has 
climbed no nearer to his infinite height than the 
lowest. An infinite God is infinite in goodness and 
love as well as in wisdom and power, and is as actu- 
ally, as graciously, as mercifully present with the least 
as with the greatest of his creatures. He hears the 
widow's moan, and sees the little child who bows his 
bare knees in prayer as distinctly as he hears the 
songs of the glorified, and sees the arch-angelic 
crowns cast glittering at his feet. 

I know a mother who sleeps so soundly at night that 
though you might gather beneath her window a score 
of sweetly attuned voices, and, with stringed instru- 
ments, make such melody as would arrest the stars 
in their courses, yet she would remain unstirred ; 



224 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



but the faintest moan from the fevered lips of a sick 
child will arouse her in a moment, and direct all her 
energies to its relief. In this regard she has some- 
times reminded me of Jesus himself, who slept sound- 
ly on the hard bottom of the fisherman's boat, with 
the spray dashing in his face, undisturbed by the 
noise of the tempest or the alarming outcries of the 
men, but who was reached in his inner conscious- 
ness, and aroused in a moment, at the first cry of 
distress : " Master, carest not thou that we perish ? " 

But in what respect is man insignificant ? It is 
true that his powers are feeble, his knowledge small, 
and his years few ; that his researches often lead to 
contradictory results ; that the labors of one age are 
largely employed in correcting the mistakes of a 
preceding one, and that his progress is slow, diffi- 
cult, and frequently arrested ; but, despite all these 
things, he may be a being of great and growing 
importance. 

Man's body, to be sure, is insignificant as a phys- 
ical force, but this does not furnish any presumption 
against prayer ; for, despite physical weakness, there 
may be mental vigor, moral activity, and spiritual 
apprehension. 

The mind, however feeble, cannot be termed insig- 
nificant if capable of mental functions and intellect- 
ual acquisitions. 

That the soul of man is not insignificant is proved 
by its creation in the image of God, by the fact that 
it is capable -of knowing and loving God, by its re- 
demption through the offering of the Son of God, by 
the gift of the Holy Spirit, making it the temple of 
God, and, not to mention other points, by its immor- 



THE ARMED SUPPLIANT. 



225 



tality. Admit growth and immortality, and the 
whole domain of God, this side of the infinite, is the 
possible possession of the soul. 

Again, it is said that " prayer is a healthful and 
salutary exercise of the mental and spiritual faculties, 
but that it is folly- to suppose that any thing is really 
received in answer to prayer." 

1. But as the stream can rise no higher than its 
fountain, it is difficult to see, on this hypothesis, how 
any moral or spiritual advantage can result ; for what 
the sinner needs is not the exercise of his depraved 
powers, or any reflex advantage which may result there- 
from, but help, deliverance, salvation. Luther goes 
to Rome distressed in regard to his spiritual condi- 
tion, and agitated with the great question — the ques- 
tion which has burdened ages — how a guilty soul 
may come acceptably into the presence of a holy 
God. In Rome he found antiquity ; but what is 
antiquity, as the historian inquires, to a man seeking 
to be justified from his sins ? What to him were vener- 
able forms ? What was art, culture, tradition, author- 
ity, sacraments, any thing, every thing, which did 
not show him the way to the reconciled countenance 
of his heavenly Father. If prayer be not answered, 
the soul must remain in its moral pollution and un- 
relieved misery. 

2. This makes prayer for others useless ; and our 
lives are bound up with the lives of others, and we 
crave blessings for those we love as for our own 
souls. Of how much value would prayer be to any 
parent if it did not prevail for his child ? 

3. Prayer, considered as a duty or a privilege, is a 
matter of revelation, and God's word is, "Ask, and 

15 



226 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you ; for every one that 
asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and 
to him that knocketh it shall be opened." These 
words certainly teach that something will be done 
for us in answer to prayer. 

4. The example of the great apostle to the Gentiles 
is instructive. He frequently asks prayers for him- 
self. He writes from Rome to Colosse, from Athens 
to Thessalonica, saying, "Pray for us." He evidently 
expected that such prayers would be a benefit, not 
only to those who offered them, but also to himself 
and his fellow-laborers. 

We ought to learn to regard prayer as a power — 
as a successful agency for . the accomplishment of 
results. The philosophy, the connection between the 
prayer and the end realized is inexplicable, but there 
is no mistake in regard to the fact. Congress has 
incorporated Dr. Loomis's ^Erial Telegraph Com- 
pany, which proposes to form its circuit, not by 
'means of the earth, but by means of a supposed cur- 
rent of electricity in the heavens. I do not know 
that this supposition will be sustained by the facts, 
but I do know that the eternal spaces of the universe 
are filled with the love of God, for he is every-where 
present ; and by prayer we make our connection 
with a battery of infinite grace and power. The 
philosophy of prayer is no more incomprehensible 
than the philosophy of natural facts — no more unsolv- 
able than the great historic problems of the ages. 
Who can tell why light is essential to growth ? or, 
indeed, what growth is ? Who can tell why elements 
must combine in certain proportions to make known 



THE ARMED SUPPLIANT. 



227 



substances ? Who can account for the weary ages 
of the world's history ? Who can explain the miseries 
which millions suffer under the government of a wise 
and good God ? Moreover, as prayer brings us into 
the plane of spiritual things, where the invisible is 
revealed, is it a strange thing that we find ourselves 
dazed by excessive light ? 

It is also said that our " prayers may be mistakes," 
that "prayer-unions for specific objects are an impu- 
dent assumption of power, by combination and per- 
sistence, to change the purposes of an immutable 
God, and that, as matter of fact, prayer does not 
prevail, for the world is not converted." 

1. "Good prayers," says an old English divine, 
" never come weeping home. I am sure I shall re- 
ceive either what I ask, or what I should ask." God 
does not give according to our measure, but accord- 
ing to his own. A Pope of Rome, pleased with a 
boy, opened a drawer filled with small coin and bade 
him take a handful. " Holy Father," said the boy, 
" take it out for me ; your hand is larger than mine"- 
And such is the practical wisdom of the child of 
grace. The underlying petition of every prayer is 
that of the Psalmist: "Lord, choose thou mine in- 
heritance for me." His paramount desire, no matter 
what may be the specific request, is that the wise, 
good, and supremely excellent will of his heavenly 
Father may be done always and in all things. 

2. Union and persistence in prayer have the 
divine warrant, and are attended by gracious results. 

3. It does not follow that prayer is vain because 
the world is not converted. In answer to prayer, 
light and influence are given, forbearance is shown, 



22 8 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

life is prolonged, and multiplied agencies combine 
for the sinner's salvation. But the offender against 
God's law is a power, not a thing, and has to be 
dealt with as a free moral agent. It requires the 
concurrence of divine and human forces to secure 
the conversion of a soul. The sinner must choose, 
determine, and act. The most that can be done for 
him, in answer to prayer, is to enlighten his under- 
standing, quicken his conscience, stir his affections, 
excite his hopes and fears, and address to his will, 
where the free soul reigns supreme, the grand, unan- 
swerable argument for a holy life. 

Prayer, then, is privilege and consolation. It is 
the way to obtain help from God, and help according 
to the measure of his infinite wisdom and love. It 
is a common privilege — an every-day privilege. It is 
not limited in time or place, like the opening of the 
Porta Santa, in St. Peters in Rome, by the Pope and 
his Cardinals, on Christmas eve, four times in a cen- 
tury ! The gates of Gospel grace stand open night 
and day. 

" when the heart is full, when bitter thoughts 
Come crowding thickly up for utterance, 
And the poor common words of courtesy 
Are such an empty mockery, how much 
The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer ! " 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOB IMMORTALITY. 229 



XXIX. 

LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 

♦ 

" And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, 
thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, 
taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow : 
wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my 
coming I might have required mine own with usury ? " — Luke xix, 
22, 23. 

You will of course recollect the context. It is par- 
allel to the parable of the servant in the twenty-fifth 
chapter of Matthew, which I have read for our lesson 
this morning. The language of this text is strongly 
ironical : " Thou knewest that I was an austere man, 
taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I 
did not sow." Indeed ! " wherefore then," that is, 
upon thine own supposition, " gavest thou not my 
money into the bank, that at my coming I might have 
required mine own with usury ? " with produce. The 
word rendered " usury " has no bad sense, as, per- 
haps, the word usury itself had no bad sense at the 
time this translation was made. The gist of the in- 
quiry was this : "Thou regardest me as a hard man, 
a ..severe master ; why, then, wast thou not attent- 
ive to my interests ? Why was not the pound which 
I had intrusted to thee faithfully used? Why was 
it not placed in the bank ? How is it that at my 
coming I am not able, to obtain mine own ? Why 



230 SHORT SEBMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



do I not receive the pound, and with it the produce 
which is, at the same time, as much mine as the 
original pound intrusted to thee ? " Passing away 
from the mere technicalities of the text— for these 
preliminary remarks will lead to its clear compre- 
hension — it seems to me that the doctrine taught, 
the great truth underlying these words, in this whole 
parable and the kindred teachings of our Lord, is 
this : Life, with all its powers and fac? cities, is to be 
regarded as a sum of money to be laid out for God. 
In other words, pressing the thought into a brighter 
compass, the theme is, Life, Capital for Immortality. 

It may appear to you that this is a very commer- 
cial rendering of this passage ; but if you will reflect 
for a moment, it will occur to you that the whole 
transaction is a commercial one, and is to be viewed 
in the light of commercial affairs and commercial 
interests, and our Lord chose thus to explain the re- 
lation which men sustain to their Maker, so that 
every man, in the light of this truth, must say of his 
capacities, as if they were a sum of money which he 
could hold in his hand : " My life, intellect, affections, 
power of usefulness, and all favorable gifts and sur- 
roundings in the world, intrusted to me by my Lord 
and Master, are to be used for the advancement of 
his cause and the promotion of the interests of his 
kingdom in the earth." This is the one grand 
thought of life, its relations and its responsibilities. 
Could the matter be more simplified, could it be 
brought more completely within the range of our 
thought, that, simply as a sum of money, intrusted 
to us by another, to be expended for him, and in 
accordance with his will, his affections, the modes 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 23 1 



and purposes which govern him, so we are to regard 
life with all its opportunities ? 

Now, in the first place, it is of immense conse- 
quence for the ordering and government of a man's 
life that he should have true conceptions of his posi- 
tion, and of his relations, and of the significance of 
life itself. He may regard his life as an opportunity 
for enjoyment, as an opportunity for the transaction 
of business, or for the furtherance of selfish matters 
and purposes. He may employ all life's powers and 
all its resources for the promotion of his pleasure, 
and the advancement of his honors, and the increase 
of himself in distinctions among men. Such a life 
will prove a failure. If it be a success in a worldly 
sense, yet, in a higher sense, it is a failure. The 
probability is that in a worldly sense also it will be a 
failure. There is a kind of perverseness in selfish- 
ness which leads it constantly to defeat its own ends. 
It turns back upon itself. There is no consistency 
in it — no certainty of results. There is in it such 
crookedness, such narrowness, such poverty, or bank- 
ruptcy, and there follows such dissatisfaction and 
wretchedness, that the selfish man can hardly seek 
the fulfillment of his own selfish ends in any constant 
and harmonious way, unless it be that he comes under 
the influence of some master passion of evil which 
impels him to make his life such that, in order to 
attain the gratification of this passion, he is ready to 
sacrifice every thing else, even that which is of a 
selfish character, for the promotion of the one darling 
selfish aim of his life. But as man stands related to 
God, governed by an infinitely wise and holy Being, 
such a selfish life must end in bankruptcy and ruin. 



232 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



What, then, is the Gospel idea of life ? It is that 
substantially presented in this passage : " Where- 
fore gavest thou not my money into the bank, that at 
my coming I might have required mine own with the 
legitimate produce of mine own ? " That is the 
Gospel idea. It reveals God as the owner and mas- 
ter, and man as the property and servant. So that 
the man that has this conception of life must say in 
reference to himself, " I am not my own, I do not 
belong to myself. This body is not mine, but the 
gift of God, this mind is not mine, this intellect is 
not mine, this heart, blossoming with immortal 
affections, is not mine, but they are an expression of 
my Father's love ; and these powers of usefulness, 
these opportunities in the world for influence, are not 
mine, I could not produce one of them, they are 
God's gift. I am simply a recipient of these gifts. 
They come flowing to me as so many exhaustless 
streams from the fountain of infinite goodness and 
love. I receive them. I owe every thing to God 
himself ; all my powers, all my belongings, all my 
capacities for doing and suffering. This is the first 
great object for which my life is given, and it is to be 
borne constantly in mind in the enjoyment of every 
particular thing, and in every relation which I sustain 
in the world, that I belong to Christ, that I must 
live for Christ, that I must find the great end of my 
being in Christ, that I must seek the joy of my heart 
in Christ, and that my success, my crowning honor, 
my everlasting felicity, my glory, will be in Christ, 
and as the fruit of the work which I shall have accom- 
plished for him." 

It is hardly a step in advance of this to say that 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOE IMMORTALITY. 



these Gospel demands of necessity govern every- 
thing. I say, of necessity, because we have gone to 
the root of the matter already. Hence, power of 
body, of social position, culture, reputation, means of 
usefulness, whatever we may have or know, which can 
be employed in the advancement of Christ's cause and 
kingdom, all these things are to be regarded not as 
our own, but as so many munitions of war, gathered to- 
gether by the great Master of the battle-field, to be 
employed for the furtherance of his cause and the 
establishment of his kingdom in the earth. 

The Christian sense of this word talents has come 
to be the popular sense. Of course the word means 
a sum of money. But then it is used in the Script- 
ures to convey the idea of our Lord in a broader 
sense — in the sense of every thing which money can 
purchase, in the sense of every thing which can be 
employed for usefulness as money can, in the sense 
of all resources, of all competency, and of all power 
of execution whatsoever. We have come in general 
to extend the meaning of the word, so that we speak 
of a man's talents, not with reference to his wealth, 
but with reference to his powers ; and, in Christian 
usage, whatsoever a man is, or whatsoever a man has, 
which can be consecrated upon the altar of Christ's 
service, is included in this inventory of his powers or 
"talents." The Gospel purpose is that we must all 
go forth in our Redeemer's name, and labor, wherever 
and however we can, for the interests of his cause. 

If we turn this subject over and look at it on an- 
other side, it may be observed that the kingdom of 
Christ is very extended, and includes every lawful 
and honorable position in life. This has been true 



234 



SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



of every age of the Christian Church. What a variety 
of talents and powers in the Apostolic College ! What 
a difference of temperaments there was in Paul, Peter, 
and Andrew ! How different their spheres of influ- 
ence ! In the Reformation, you see the same difference 
in Melanchthon, Calvin, and Martin Luther. In the 
Wesleyan Reformation there is likewise a cluster of 
great and distinguished names — a variety of talents 
and powers. Wesley himself, a logician, a theologian, 
with a mastering ability for organization and govern- 
ment, an orator, a statesman of the broadest and 
most comprehensive views ; how little could he have 
accomplished, after all, without the aid of his brother 
Charles and the wonderful songs he sung and taught 
all the Methodists to sing ; without the saintly 
Fletcher to defend his doctrines with a logic like 
that of Paul, and with a sweetness of spirit remind- 
ing us of the beloved apostle ! How little would he 
have accomplished if Whitefield had not gone before 
him, turning the thoughts of men toward religious 
subjects ! Wesley said of Coke that he w r as " a right 
hand to him." These men were like a cluster of 
stars of the first magnitude in the religious firmament 
of that time. This remark will apply also to the de- 
voted laborers in the humbler ranks of Methodism, 
in every sphere of life, where the cause of Christ 
may be advanced. So indeed is it in every Church 
and place. While, on the one hand, you may see the 
divine will directing every order of culture, power, 
and talent for this service, if you choose, on the other 
hand, to study that service, and to study its neces- 
sities, you will see that it needs not only the wisdom 
of the wise, not only the labors of the great, not only 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOB IMMORTALITY. 235 



the resources of the learned, but that it needs every 
talent, of every order, in every condition of society, 
from the lowest to the highest, through all the rela- 
tions, however manifold, which good men sustain in 
the world. Thus God's cause is advanced in the 
earth by all classes of agencies which can be brought 
from any of the resources of his people and conse- 
crated to his work. What is chiefly necessary is 
that thoughts of Christ and of his service should be 
in every man's mind. Now every man may say : 
" The demand of the Head of the Church upon me 
is that I shall use all my powers and resources in his 
service. I must think and feel, pray and speak and 
testify, and transact my business, and do my work in 
the world, and conduct myself in my household, and 
in my relations with men in the world with constant 
reference to this fact, that I am just as truly a min- 
ister and embassador of Jesus Christ in the world as 
was Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther. I am just as 
truly an instrument in building up the temple of 
God's power in the earth as the most illustrious 
laborer who has worked thereon. The power and 
resources which Christ has given me have been 
given me for this purpose. With such resources 
as I have at my command, I am to labor for the 
advancement of his cause." 

You will find your work, if you will obey God's 
command, not in some distant portion of the earth, 
but by your own hearth-stone, it may be, in the very 
block in which you live, on the very street where 
you reside, among the companions with whom you 
are most intimately brought into contact, with your 
brother-clerk in the counting-room, with the man 



236 SHOUT SERMONS ON C0XSEC11ATI0X. 



who stands nearest to you in society. Ah, Carlyie's 
utterance was half inspired when he said, " Do the 
duty which lies nearest thee, and the second duty 
will already have become plainer." 

The last hours of Charles Goodyear were spent in 
perfecting inventions for saving life in water. His 
one great invention of vulcanizing rubber was enough 
to secure his fame and the resources of fortune, and 
he might have retired and lived in his old age in 
peace and comfort. But Charles Goodyear was an 
eminently Christian man ; he was a philanthropist. 
His ideas of life were expressed when he said to a 
missionary who was about sailing to a foreign land : 
" I am as much a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ 
as you are." And it was with a thought like this in 
his mind that he labored at his great invention of 
vulcanizing rubber, and in his advanced years he 
strove from this vulcanization of rubber to secure 
some invention by which to save the multitudes per- 
ishing by shipwreck at sea. His wife asked him the 
cause of his continued sleeplessness, she having been 
disturbed by his hours of restlessness. He replied : 
" How can I sleep when so many of my fellow-creatures 
are passing into eternity every day, and I feel that I 
am the man to prevent it ! " I think that every man 
who has attained to a truly Christian idea of himself, 
of Christ, and of the world to come, feels the stirring 
influence of the Holy Spirit in him, forcing him to 
say, " There is some evil in the world which I can 
and must prevent. There is some portion of God's 
love put in my heart for a purpose. There is some 
object which I am able to realize in the world. There 
are some who can be turned back from sin and ruin 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 237 



through my agency and instrumentality. There is 
some cheer and encouragement for God's servants 
which I can give. There is profanity, and I am the 
man that can prevent it. There is intemperance, 
with its desolation sweeping over the land, and I can 
do something to prevent it. There is Sabbath dese- 
cration, there is ignorance of the ways of God, there 
are necessities of the Church and of perishing souls, 
and I can do something to prevent this want and 
w T aste and ruin." All these evils are a burden on 
the heart of Jesus, and it is the business of his serv- 
ants to prevent these evils in their ravage and waste 
in the world, and some power, some resource, has 
been given to every one for that purpose. Don't 
say,. " I have no influence." You might as well say, 
" I am nobody." Write, instead of your name, 
" Nothing," if you have no influence. As well say, 
" I am a cipher, and not a significant figure at all." 
Signify something, if it be but a fraction. As Carlyle 
says : " Be no longer a chaos, but a world, or even 
worldkin. Produce ! produce ! Were it but the 
pitifulest infinitesimal fraction of a product, produce 
it in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in 
thee ; out with it then ! Up ! up ! Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work 
while it is called to-day, for the night cometh wherein 
no man can work." 

Indeed, a man possessed of this spirit and purpose 
will not give up, saying, " I can do but little." It is 
not so much his business whether he can do little or 
much. It always augurs a spirit of false humility 
when one is ready to exclaim, " I can do but little," 
as if he expected some one to say to him, 44 O yes, 



238 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

brother, you can do a great deal." What a meanness 
it is if you will not do something! If the little which 
you can do is not done, what excuse will you have 
when you stand before the Judge? If you can do 
but little, you may be certain Christ never expected 
you to do more. But ah, when you rise to a higher 
range of thought, what is "little?" It was a very 
little thing when Andrew, with his face glowing with 
a new light of love, went and found his own brother 
Simon and brought him to Jesus. Almost any body 
could have done so little as that. But hardly any 
act more important is recorded, and Simon Peter 
stands, and will stand for all ages, as the representa- 
tive of that one act before the world. And when 
Peter stands in heaven before the eternal throne, 
where will be Andrew's position, who took him by 
the hand and led him to Jesus ? It was a very little 
thing when a faithful Sabbath-school teacher taught 
Edmund S. Janes the way to life ; but that apostolic 
Bishop goes through the earth proclaiming the riches 
of Jesus' love, a representative man before the world 
of the faithfulness of that teacher and of the great 
work he has accomplished. It is insolent in us to 
call any thing little, or any thing great, as if we could 
see the end, as if we could measure results. Why ! 
can we measure magnitude at a point ? The results 
of an act stretch beyond us in an infinite line ; who 
shall tell what is their magnitude ? A word spoken, 
a tear shed, a tremble of the lip, the earnestness of 
a tone, may change the destiny of an immortal soul. 
What is a little thing ? Do what you can. 

Penetrated with this idea, that I am not my own, 
that I have received my life and every thing which 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOB IMMORTALITY. 



239 



belongs to it, as a sum of money placed in my hand 
to be laid out for God, I go into the world's market- 
place, not inquiring what this will bring, how much 
value will the world place on this talent intrusted to 
me, but how shall I expend it most wisely for him 
who hath sent me. I go forth not inquiring whether 
I shall gain the world's approbation, but what recep- 
tion shall I receive from the great Teacher and Mas- 
ter when I come back from my life-work. I ought 
only to inquire, " What will he say of my work, and 
of the fruits of my labors?" A man inspired with 
such a purpose will not choose, to use Bacon's words, 
" a goodness solitary and particular, rather than gen- 
erative and seminal ? " It is not enough for him 
that he dwells in his closet in conscious enjoyment 
of the divine favor, reveling in the manifestations of 
his Lord's regard, enchanted with beautiful visions of 
an open paradise, feasting in the solitude of his soul 
on the manna which falls to him from heaven ; but 
his goodness is of an active kind ; it is goodness gen- 
erative, which seeks to raise, in every sphere of use- 
fulness, means of multiplying the active powers of 
the human soul, to be used in laboring for our Lord 
and Master. So a man who has passed from earth 
may still be said to live. Paul still preaches up and 
down the earth ; Luther still blows the iron trump 
of his mother-tongue, whose blast once shook the 
nations from Rome to the Orkneys. Whitefleld and 
Wesley still go forth on their errands of life and love, 
and the songs of the Church, born out of devoted and 
loving hearts, wing their way, like summer birds, 
from sphere to sphere, still remaining melodious in 
the souls of the redeemed. Possessed with this idea, 



240 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



a man will faithfully use all the means of grace that 
God has given him. God has sent him forth, as an 
agent, and expects, as in affairs of life, that he will avail 
himself to the utmost of his opportunities for activity 
and usefulness. 

You go to New Orleans, New York, or any other 
place, for illustration, to represent me in business. I 
expect you to avail yourself of all the means of knowl- 
edge which you possess or can acquire, for the advance- 
ment of the interests intrusted to your hands ; you 
are to find out all you can ; you are to make yourself 
as competent as possible to perform the work you 
have undertaken. 

The Christian man having this sense of service and 
responsibility will say, 44 I must study God's word, 
I must be often in my closet ; I must hear the voices of 
my brethren in prayer ; I must maintain religious 
worship in my family, I must go to God's house 
where he specially dispenses the blessings of his 
kingdom ; I must make myself as wise and strong 
and well-furnished as possible for the great work 
which I have to do in the earth." And no other 
interest will be permitted to fall, like a shadow, across 
this path of life. I read the other day of a little girl 
asking her mamma about heaven. She said, " Mam- 
ma, you will be there?" " Yes." "And Aunt 
Laura will be there ? " " Yes." " What a nice time 
we will have in heaven, wont we ? " And her mother, 
thinking she had overlooked one object of her affec- 
tion, said, " Papa will be there too, wont he, dear ? M 
" No," said the little girl, " papa will not be there." 
"Why not ?" said the mother. "Because," said the 
little girl, "papa cant leave the store? That, it seems, 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 241 

was a matter distinctly understood in the household : 
for religious worship, for the prayer-meeting, for the 
demands of beneficence, papa could not leave the 
$tore. His business was first and imperative. The 
child's logic, like children's logic always, was con- 
clusive, and leaped at once to the sequence of the 
argument, that papa had no time or place for labor or 
enjoyment in the heavenly world. The truth is that 
business, social relations, affairs of life, and every 
thing connected with a man's operations in the world, 
will be made tributary 'to his chief object and work. 
His chief aim in life rules him, whether it be selfish 
or otherwise. If he be truly a Christly man, his 
whole object is to use his life, his talents, and his 
opportunities for the Head of the Church. He will 
question only how he may do his work most wisely 
and most effectually for his Master. 

It is said that Howard, that most eminent philan- 
thropist, had a wife who was worthy of him. At one 
time when they had received unexpectedly quite a 
legacy, in addition to their fortune, he said to her, 
" Now we can gratify our long-cherished desire to 
spend a season at the Springs/' After a moment she 
replied, " But what a fine row of cottages that sum 
of money would build for our poor." Nothing more 
was said ; but the jaunt to the Springs was not taken, 
and the row of cottages was built. Many a woman 
thus, by a word, has changed the whole tenor of a 
man's life. I hardly need say that when a man has 
this one great thought of Jesus in his mind, that his 
life is as a sum of money intrusted to him, to be laid 
out for God's service, he will become divinely in ear- 
nest. There are some men in the world who have 

16 



242 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



no earnestness in their lives. They are like oysters 
and clams in the mud. Their lives are cold and un- 
certain, now up and now down. Men do not attain 
any great object in the world until they become 
indomitably in earnest. A Christian man has ear- 
nestness of soul, and from the moment he becomes a 
Christian all his powers are engrossed for God. 

There is no such thing as sluggish Christianity. 
There is no such thing as dormant Christian man- 
hood — no such thing as lazy grace. Grace always 
generates grit. If a man has the warm love of God 
in his heart, it takes the flabbiness out of his muscle. 
There is some hardness in his bone ; there is some 
life in his marrow ; there is some firmness to his 
heart, some constancy to his purpose. He means 
something. He knows something for himself. How 
many things the Christian man knows ! He knows 
there is a God in heaven ; he knows that Jesus Christ 
is the world's Redeemer; he knows he has an immor- 
tal soul ; he knows that he has been ransomed with 
precious blood, and regenerated by the power of the 
Holy Ghost ; he knows he was blind and foolish, 
that he has been redeemed, and that now he is fixed 
in purpose to use the strength and vigor of his man- 
hood in his Master's service. 

I heard a brother once say in a love-feast that he 
hoped to obtain some poor seat in heaven. Another 
brother interrupted him and said : " Brother, you 
will be disappointed ; there is no such place there." 
He was right. There is no poor seat in heaven ; 
there is nothing less than a throne there. Whoever 
finds his place there will sit on the throne with 
Jesus. Whoever has an ambition for a poor place 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 243 



there will not get there. That is not the way to 
heaven. 

When he who has striven to obtain a high place 
in heaven, by devoted service to his Master, is taken 
up among the ranks of the redeemed — redeemed from 
sin, redeemed from an eternal hell by the precious 
blood of Jesus, and clothed in heavenly robes — all the 
crowned angels will gather around him, and ask him 
the story of his ransomed and consecrated life. 

Now, my hearer, suppose yourself in such a place, 
searched by such questions. After you were con- 
verted, what did you do for Jesus ? what did you 
testify ? what work did you perform ? what burdens 
did you cheerfully bear for his name's sake ? 

There are many who are not willing to do any 
thing for Jesus, but they aim to get to heaven. Such 
would not become the place. It would be no heaven 
to them ; for they have rendered no service for which 
they can be crowned. Reward comes after labor. 
They who have suffered with him shall also reign 
with him. No Christian man having this conception 
of life and God will be satisfied without doing some- 
thing for Christ. 

I must say a few words of the results which will 
flow from such a life of service to Christ — such an 
expenditure of life as a sum of money for the Lord 
and Master. 

1. There is an immediate result on character. 

Nothing so much concerns a man as 'self-hood. 
What he is, is the matter of chief concern. And a man's 
life is every way richer for having given it to Jesus. 
Character is ennobled and beautified by this process. 

What power there is in a thorough awakening of 



244 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



the dormant faculties, and a gathering up and con- 
centration of all our resources in the work of Jesus ! 
This is the royal road to greatness. It is certain a 
man becomes more like Jesus as he studies his char- 
acter and attempts to reproduce it. Looking at the 
likeness of the Son of God, he is changed from glory 
to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

2. A life of sin and selfishness, on the other hand, 
is always a mistake and a crime. 

Why, there are men in this city, prosperous in the 
world, who are universally commiserated. Men do 
not envy them as they see theni on the streets, or, as 
they roll by in their carriages. They rather pity 
them. There are able men, that is men of great 
power and culture, intellectually, who are universally 
despised. They are contemptible as they are power- 
ful. There are cultivated men who are fools ; creat- 
ures of fashion, gay as the butterfly, and signifying 
just about as much. Who envies them ? Nothing 
is ever gained by sin. It is an impeachment of God 
Almighty's character for us to suppose that any good 
can come to any creature in his universe from trans- 
gression. Never. As he is a just, a righteous, and a 
holy God, he permits no prosperous, gainful sin in 
his domain. A soul without God, a soul bankrupt 
of its immortality, may have the honors, the pleasures, 
and the distinctions of the world, but it can find no 
compensation for the loss and ruin. 

3. In respect to the future. 

Whedon's remark is significant : " For every hath 
there is a richer hath, and in every hath not, there is 
a deeper, poorer hath not." " From him that hath 
not shall be taken away even that which he hath," 



LIFE, CAPITAL FOR IMMORTALITY. 245 



that is, the original pound intrusted to him. And 
that is just and fair. You would not loan your money 
to a man who did not intend to pay you interest. 
You would not submit to it. That is the very idea 
in this passage. The man hath not the produce or 
return which he should have brought, therefore take 
from him that which he hath — the original pound in- 
trusted to him. But if he hath, if he brings an in- 
crease, if he can say, " Lord, thy pound hath gained 
another pound ; " " Lord, thy pound hath gained five 
pounds besides ; " if he hath, in other words, made 
the most of life and its opportunities in the advance- 
ment of his Redeemer's cause, there is for him a 
"richer hath," and a more abundant and glorious 
possession. 

. Let us then devote all the resources of our strength 
and life to this cause, remembering that service is rich- 
ly rewarded, and that neglect brings failure and loss. 
For ".to him that hath shall be given, and from him 
that hath not shall be taken even that wdiich he hath." 
Our lives are to be regarded as a sum of money to be 
laid out for God ; and when the Master cometh to us 
may he say : " Well done, good and faithful servant, 
enter into the joy of thy Lord." 

Leighton's words on entering into the joy of our 
Lord, are beautiful and appropriate : " It is but little 
we can receive here, some drops of joy that enter 
into us, but there we shall enter into joy, as ships put 
into a sea of happiness." But let it not be forgotten 
that it is only through the service of Christ and 
through the fellowship of his sufferings that we learn 
how to enter into his joy, and to share in the glories 
of his heavenly kingdom. 



246 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



In conclusion, mark these four things, which I 
trust you will bear away with you : 

1. The essential dishonesty of sin. The sinner 
says, " my money," " my own," when he has nothing, 
except what he holds in trust. Sin is robbery, and 
robbery of the Almighty. 

2. " Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee." 
The sinner will be condemned by principles which he 
has always acknowledged. When he lent to others 
he demanded produce. God lent to him life's grand 
opportunity, and he will require a return. If he has 
not used his pound for his Lord, it will be justly 
taken from him. 

3. Our faithfulness is in a very little, but the re- 
ward is great. " He that reapeth receiveth wages 
and gathereth fruit unto everlasting life." What 
wages God pays ! What a reward it will be to shout 
the harvest-home ! What dignity and honor to rule 
among the powers and hierarchies of heaven ! 

4. Consider the importance of beginning early to 
serve God, of loving him with the whole heart, and 
of making the most of life for eternity. If you can 
say in that day, " I have given my whole life to 
Jesus ; I have loved him with all my heart ; I have 
made the most of my opportunities, and devoted time, 
talents, influence, possessions, all things, to the fur- 
therance of his kingdom ; 1 'have given my life as a 
sum of money to him " — then great will be your re- 
ward, exultant your joy, and resplendent your crown, 
in the eternal world. 



"STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN." 247 



XXX. 

"STRENGTHEN THE THINGS WHICH RE- 
MAIN." 



"Strengthen the things ^hich remain, that are readv to die." 
Eev. hi. 2. 

Unquestionably, there are many in the Christian 
Church who have a name to live while they are dead. 
There are many more, however, who have the Chris- 
tian life in such small proportions, with such feeble 
impulses, characterized by such inconsistencies, in- 
volved in such contradictions, and bewildered in such 
labyrinthine doubts, that a happy termination of 
their probationary career can hardly be anticipated, 
It is true that these persons have the knowledge of 
the law, conviction of duty, desire for spirituality, and 
a care for the forms and decencies of religion. They 
are upright, amiable, moral, and excellent in the judg- 
ment of their fellows. Nor have they by any means 
ceased to be religious. They have not given up their 
hope of heaven. The name of Jesus still charms 
their ears. The story of the cross still ravishes their 
souls. But they are not satisfied. There is an 
emptiness within, a meagerness in the life, a shallow- 
ness in their experience, a narrowness in the perform- 
ance of Christian duty, which, when contemplated, 
sicken and appall. The craving soul is not satisfied 
with the bread of God. Deep draughts are not taken 



248 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



from the wells of salvation. The dews of heavenly 
grace seem not to fall, and the virtues of the Chris- 
tian character, which did spring up as the tender 
grass, and expand as the opening blossoms of Spring, 
are now, although living at the root, blanched, with- 
ered, and dry. There is no fullness in the spiritual life, 
no exhilarating enjoyment of the things of God, no 
undimmed hopes of a radiant immortality. The soul 
is consciously insufficient for duty and trial, and has 
no immediate preparation for death, judgment, and 
eternity. Alas, how many experiences do these 
words describe ! And yet a sadder truth rises on 
the horizon of our vision : These tilings which remain 
will also perish y except they be strengthened. This 
will follow in the very nature of things. The feeble 
man is likely to die, the small fortune is easily spent, 
and little religion soon becomes no religion. The 
form without the power is burdensome, and the dogma 
of faith must be discarded when the conduct can no 
longer vindicate itself to the understanding. Ortho- 
dox beliefs and salutary forms of godliness simulta- 
neously disappear when they become the constant 
.rebuke of a faithless and disorderly life. Imperfect 
works cannot be productive of a finished character ; 
and the lack of completeness and proportion is the 
source of defection, decay, and irretrievable disaster. 

Does any one say, " This is my condition," and at 
the same time despairingly ask, " What can I do ? " 
I answer : 

1. Consider that you are in peril ; that so long as 
any sin remains in your heart it is in the nature of a 
temptation ; that you must be strong to overcome the 
world, and that there can be no compensation for the 



" STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN" 249 

loss of the soul. Such reflections will make you 
watchful and earnest.' 

2. Remember the past miracles of grace in your 
experience, the way in which the Lord led you, the 
goodness, love, and infinite patience shown you, and 
the joys which once bubbled up like a living spring 
in your soul. Can you think on these things with 
eyes unmoistened or with heart unmoved ? And Jesus 
has not changed, while your affections have cooled. 
His heart is still a flame of love. 

3. Cherish the grace you have. Hold fast, with a 
life-and-death grip, to what remains to you of the 
Christian life. Satan may say, " You hav*e so little 
religion, and serve God so imperfectly, you might as 
well give it all up." Beware ! this is the crowning 
temptation, designed to work your utter ruin. A little 
religion is infinitely better than no religion. A little 
religion has immeasurable possibilities in it ; but no 
religion means darkness and despair. The flicker- 
ing light maybe restored to steadiness and strength ; 
butifit go out the case is past remedy. That wan- 
ing life may be won back to hope and promise, but 
no roses bloom under the pall of death. The parent 
gives to his child tenderest care and unwearied 
attention while the pulse beats and the heart throbs, 
be it ever so faintly ; but when death comes love 
sinks hopeless into the silent grave. And our ten- 
der, loving Saviour doth not quench the smoking 
flax, doth not willingly see us perish, and doth not 
cease to feed, with the oil of his grace, the feeble 
flame of spiritual affection in our hearts. Jesus 
recognizes any measure of good, wherever found. He 
is not unmindful of our tears, our struggles, our asp*- 



250 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



rations for a higher life. Be encouraged, therefore, 
and let not your heart fail you through fear ; for if 
you hold fast to Christ, he will hold fast to you ; and 
herein is your hope of final salvation. 

4. Confession confirms faith. " If thou shalt con- 
fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe 
in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, 
thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation." And to increase and confirm 
faith is to strengthen the things which remain of the 
spiritual life at the very root, and in their most vital 
elements ' for faith is the golden link which binds us 
to the unseen, the spiritual, and the eternal. It is 
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen. It is the power which enables us 
to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. It is 
only through faith that we come into the place in 
which God is discerned. Without faith we are cut 
off from the spiritual and shut up to the material. 
Nothing, therefore, can be more important to us, as 
spiritual and immortal beings, than faith. Without 
it we cannot please God, for we are earth-bound, and 
have no capacity to apprehend the divine. Faith is 
the sense with which the soul sees God. It opens 
to us the realm of invisible things, and brings us into 
intercourse with the highest. Faith may be cultiva- 
ted, increased, strengthened. It is the duty of every 
Christian to grow in this matchless grace. Every 
other Christian virtue blooms in the sun of its pros- 
perity. Now, it is said, faith is confirmed by confes- 
sion. There can be no doubt of the truth of this 
statement. The reason, the philosophy, is not so 



"STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN" 25 I 



manifest. A thought needs, perhaps, to be uttered 
in order to be fully thought. The mental process 
does not seem to be complete without speech. When 
we project the idea forth from the mind, and look at 
it as an external thing, a child born of us, we see its 
proportions, importance, truthfulness, beauty, and 
power. When we proclaim our faith in Jesus, we 
discover what it is to have faith in Jesus. Perhaps 
the faith, for its maturity, requires expression. Cer- 
tainly confession increases and confirms the faith 
which was needful in order to confession. " I believe 
in Jesus Christ," were the words with which a good 
man used to baffle his spiritual foes. " I believe in 
Jesus Christ" has sustained many a drooping spirit, 
given the victory in many a doubtful struggle, turned 
the scale for rectitude and purity in many a trying 
temptation, and softened for many an aching head 
the dying pillow. 

It is worthy of remembrance that Jesus thus tested 
and developed the faith of those who came to him for 
works of healing and miraculous power. " Believe 
ye that I am able to do this ? " were words which 
searched the doubting heart and gave opportunity for 
the heroic confession. " According to your faith," 
he said, on one occasion, " be it unto you." It is 
still the rule of the divine dispensation. Faith still 
subdues kingdoms, obtains promises, stops the mouths 
of lions, and puts to flight the armies of the aliens. 
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, 
and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion. The confessed faith is the secured salvation. 

There are many ways in which faith may be con- 
firmed. In things of this world faith is declared by 



252 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

word and act, by doing and suffering, in life and 
death. It is not only with a form of speech that the 
Christian is to confess his faith, but also and chiefly 
by a life of consecration. If his faith be the key-note 
of his desires, words, business, associations, aims, and 
plans — of the whole conduct arid course of his life — 
then his character and career will be one grand diap- 
ason, ringing with the praises of Jesus. And that 
consecration will react upon his experience, will 
strengthen his faith, increase his love, multiply his 
consolations, and constantly confirm his assurance of 
final victory and eternal life. 

5. To strengthen the things which remain, repent 
thoroughly, renounce your lukewarm, half hearted 
service, and give yourself wholly to God. It is a 
shame that you are not filled with his Spirit, and 
flaming with his love. Think what a being God is, 
what goodness he has shown to you, what relations 
you sustain to him and to the eternal world, and con- 
secrate all your powers to his work. 

"The charge against Sardis," says Trench, "is 
not a perverse holding of untruth, but a heartless 
holding of the truth." And this is the sin of the 
modern Church. It holds the truth heartlessly, and 
consequently does not act consistently, nor treat 
eternal things with the earnestness or solemnity 
which they demand. Sin must be hated before God 
can be loved. Give yourself, then, wholly to the busi- 
ness of the Christian life ; put your heart, your best 
affections, into the work of Christ ; count it all joy to 
be numbered with his suffering saints, and choose 
death rather than recreancy to the truth ; and you 
will gain strength from your very momentum, your 



« STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN » 253 

courage will be your salvation, and eternal life will 
be your reward ; for he who wins the victors palm 
shall wear the triumphant crown. Keep your gar- 
ments undefiled, unspotted from the world, and you 
will be of that happy number of whom Jesus has 
said, " They shall walk with me in white ; for they 
are worthy." "Here," says a commentator, " are 
many promises in one : the promise of life, for only 
the living walk, the dead are still ; of liberty, for the 
free walk, and not the fast bound." And yet, per-^ 
haps, the chief thought is that of an outbeaming 
purity, so resplendent that it amounts to a glorifica- 
tion. Surely, this is worthy of an earnest seeking. 
Rutherford observes that many who never had a sick 
night because of Christ, nor yet a pained soul for sin, 
are, nevertheless, expecting heaven. Thousands are 
thus slain by a prevailing security. Be in earnest 
for salvation. Strengthen the things which remain, 
that are ready to die ! Lay hold on eternal life. 

Christ's permanent abode in our hearts is precisely 
our grand necessity. If we need Christ at any time, 
we need him all the time. He is our salvation, and 
without him we are unsaved. Every moment we 
need the merit of his death, and every moment we 
may have the. merit of his death. We do not inquire 
how far this is the actual experience of the Church. 
Christ, doubtless, has more faithful ones who live in 
him, and are wholly consecrated to his work, than we 
know. But that this experience might become more 
general than it is — might become universal — is, we 
judge, beyond all dispute with believers in the New 
Testament. How many are parched in desert wastes 
who, by taking a few steps in advance, might come 



254 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



into a beautiful land abounding with springs of living 
water ! How many are exposed to the furious, and 
ofttimes successful, assaults of the powers of dark- 
ness, who might dwell in # a munition of rocks in per- 
fect peace and safety ! How many have only occa- 
sional glimpses of the glory which gilds the mount 
of transfiguration, whose privilege it is to abide in 
that land where the sun never goes down, and where 
the voice of singing birds is always heard ! The 
great thing required is the entire stirrender of the will 
to Christ. Let the consecration of heart and life for 
doing and suffering be complete, and the great peace 
of God will reign in the soul. How powerful the mo- 
tives which urge us to this full and irretrievable devo- 
tion of ourselves to Christ and his service ! We 
have ho self-wisdom or self-sufficiency. We have 
within us no unfailing springs of consolation. We 
have no strength, heroism, or inspiration of our own ; 
we must hang on Jesus for all these things. He is 
our life. Think of that glorious promise of the 
Son of God : " If ye abide in me, and my words abide 
in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done 
unto you." What a marvelous promise ! What 
princely endowments, what high privileges, what 
power, dominion, and usefulness, it vouchsafes to us ! 
To us? Nay, except we meet the conditions, this 
promise is as far above us as the stars in the heavens. 
We cannot reach it ; we cannot attain unto it. This 
promise belongs only to the soul dwelling in the 
constant communion of Jesus' love, and walking in 
every pathway of holy obedience. But more than 
the wealth of the Indies, more than all worldly hon- 
ors, more than all pleasures of sense or imagination, 



'STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN." 2$$ 

more than all splendors of kingly rule or historic 
renown, is that promise worth to the man who can 
truly claim it for his own. God help us to lay hold 
on it for time and eternity ! I fully agree with a re- 
cent writer who says : " The great want of the Church 
is not better creeds, but a better experience ; not a 
multiplication of religious agencies, but an increase 
of religious power ; not a more complete apparatus 
for her work, but a more complete union with her 
Master." 

For a better experience, for an increase of relig- 
ious power, and for a fuller union with Jesus, we must 
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready 
to die ! 

To maintain the Christian life we must produce 
the fruits of holiness. The external and internal life 
must correspond. Our walk must not give the lie to 
our words. The servants of God are not only made 
free from sin, but they have their fruit unto holiness. 
The beautiful, consistent, and symmetrical character 
of Jesus is their model and their inspiration. " As 
he is so are we in this world. " " He that saith he 
abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he 
walked." These words describe a grand necessity 
of the Church. When Jesus was in the world, he 
appealed to his miraculous works as a potent proof 
of his Messiahship, and said, " Believe me for the 
very works' sake." When he went away into heaven, 
he left his disciples to be his representatives, to 
show forth to the world the beauty and excellence of 
his religion. This living epistle is read by unregen- 
erate eyes with the keenest interest. The majority 
of men do not get their impressions of Christianity 



» 



256 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



from the Bible or from the study of the life and char- 
acter of the Son of God, but from what they have 
seen of Christianity in the conduct of those who 
have professed to be the followers of Jesus. A pious 
mother has made many a man a Christian, through 
the tender memory of her living consecration to the 
world's Redeemer. We are all of us powerfully 
affected by example, and examples of godliness con- 
stitute the great demand of the Church and the age. 
We have enough of theory, enough of profession, but 
not enough of practice. We have argued and con- 
tended enough on the subject of holiness, but we 
have not enough lived holiness. The world demands, 
and has a right to demand, the fruits of holiness. 
Are we saved from sin, from idle words, from evil 
tempers, from uncharitable judgments, from a worldly 
spirit, from selfish aims and ends ? Do we in honor 
prefer one another, or are we all engaged in an igno- 
ble scramble for the best places ? Do we cheerfully 
maintain the institutions of the Gospel by our offer- 
ings and prayers ? Do we visit the sick, relieve the 
needy, and uplift the down-trodden? Have we a 
tender solicitude for souls ? Do we warn the un- 
godly, encourage the despondent, stir up the luke- 
warm, and cheer the hearts of all who are toiling in 
the Lord's vineyard ? Are our sympathies enlisted 
for every work of charity, justice, and beneficence 
among men ? Are we in full fellowship with Jesus 
in his longing and expectation that the earth may 
become his footstool, and be filled with his glory ? Do 
men know that we are Christians, and thoroughly 
identified with Christ's cause, even while they oppose, 
deride, and persecute us ? Do we carry our religion 



" STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN." 257 

into all the relations of life, and in business, politics, 
society — on 'Change, at the ballot-box, and in the 
drawing-room — honor the name of God our Saviour ? 
Is it evident to all that we are not self-seeking, grasp- 
ing, covetous ; but kind, considerate, generous, and 
consecrated in time, talent, and possession, to our 
blessed Lord ? Especially, are we patient, forbear- 
ing, long-suffering ? by good works putting to silence 
the ignorance of foolish men ? Is it manifest that 
we are Christ's disciples because we have love one 
toward another ? Are we of one heart and one soul 
in the Redeemers work ? Are we ready to suffer 
all things rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ ? 
Is it the testimony of our conscience that in sim- 
plicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, 
but by the grace of God, we have had our conversa- 
tion in the world ? Finally, do we constantly seek 
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at 
the right hand of God ? 

Let us examine and prove ourselves, and know 
that we are in the faith ! Let us be, credible and 
convincing witnesses for Jesus in daily life and con- 
versation! Let us show forth to the world the 
excellency of this knowledge and experience of 
Christ ! 

" Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our 
God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill 
ail the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of 
faith with power : that the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, accord- 
ing to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus 
Christ;' 

6. We must learn to contemplate life as seen from 

17 



258 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

the gates of death, and from the stand-point of judg- 
ment and eternity. 

Our vision of life changes according to the posi- 
tion we occupy in the contemplation. In youth, life 
is radiant with hope and promise. In mature years, 
the view is tempered to a sober hue, but we are still 
in the midst of the strife, with blood heated by the 
combat, and with indomitable purpose to succeed. 
The true view of life is the retrospective — the vision 
which rises before us as we gaze backward from the 
gates of death. It is only by looking through the 
eyes of age and experience that the young become 
wise, sagacious, and comprehensive. The steady 
gaze is the clear gaze. Second-sight, so called, is 
insight. It is only those who are wont to perceive 
that perceive distinctly. The prophetic strain, as the 
poetic fancy, is born of ripe experience. 

Now, can any thing be more pitiable than a 
wicked old man ? His life may have been, in a worldly 
way, a great success ; but who envies him ? He has 
had honors, pleasures, opulence, power, friendship, 
love; but what remains to him ? His sweetest joys 
have vanished, as the bubbles on the stream ; the 
lips he most loved have turned to dust ; he has had 
his full of distinctions, and the flame of his ambition 
burns low, like the embers in the grate, changing to 
ashes ; he has houses, and lands, and stocks, and bul- 
lion, and costly gems, but his palsied grasp is loosen- 
ing its hold on them, in spite of himself, and he be- 
gins to feel that they will soon be his no more for- 
ever. In the future he has no prospect. The grave 
looks dreary to him, and he is going into the grave. 
The thought of eternity is like a death-knell, and 



"STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN » 259 



every moment he is drawing nearer to eternity. From 
judgment he shrinks, in a shiver of apprehension, 
and yet he must soon stand before God in judgment. 
Poor old man ! He tries to enjoy life ; but he can- 
not forget that death waits for him with hearse and 
plumes, and that he must go away alone into that 
other world ! What is before him ? He has sent no 
treasures to that distant shore ; he has aspired to no 
throne in that immortal kingdom ; he has won no 
crown of imperishable worth ; he has made no friend- 
ships in the household of God, and he has no desire 
or relish for the enjoyments of heaven. The past is 
gone ; the present is more a burden than a rapture, 
and the future is dark, dreary, and dreadful. What 
sad and sickening words were those of Prince Talley- 
rand, when, after fourscore years of power, wealth, 
and worldly splendor, he declared that life yielded 
him " no other result than a great fatigue, physical 
and moral, and a profound sentiment of discourage- 
ment with regard to the future, and of disgust for the 
past ! " Is such a man to be envied ? 

On the contrary, a good old man must be regarded 
as happy. He may have passed his days in poverty, 
and obscurity, and affliction ; but he has secured life's 
chief treasure, a virtuous character — life's grandest 
inspiration, an immortal hope, His past is a pleas- 
ing retrospect, whatever may have been his trials ; 
his present is full of noble consolations, whatever 
may be his sorrows or burdens ; and his future is 
beautiful and glorious as the gates of heaven. He 
has not lived for himself, but for his Saviour and his 
fellow-men, and his life has not been in vain. Death 
has no terrors for him. The grave may be " deep 



260 SHORT SERMONS OX CONSECRATION. 



and soundless/' but beyond its cloudy gloom he 
beholds the brightness of an immortal day. The 
friends who vanished from his earthly vision await 
him on that other shore. The world knows his poverty, 
but it does not know his riches. He has a secure, 
indefeasible, eternal possession. 

He has not gained distinctions among men ; but 
he is a prince, and a glittering crown will adorn his 
fadeless brow. To leave this world is to bid fare- 
well to pain, and tears, and trials, and to enter into 
his Father's presence, to rest in his Saviour's bosom, 
to find the loved and lost of other years, and to be- 
come a full inheritor of everlasting life. 

Hear Paul's triumphant shout from the gates of 
death : " I am now ready to be offered, and the time 
of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only, 
but unto all them also that love his appearing." How 
heroic a past ! How sublime a present ! How trans- 
porting a future ! Grand old man ! He is superior 
to opposition, persecutions, afflictions, the contempt 
of his countrymen, the treachery of false brethren, the 
care of all the Churches ; superior to privations, per- 
ils by land and sea, stripes, imprisonment, " deaths 
oft," the bloody edicts of Nero, and the immediate 
prospect of martyrdom ! He reviews his past, and 
exclaims exultingly, " I have fought a good fight." 
He considers his present, in which men behold only 
bonds, imprisonment, death, and contemplates his 
riches, dignities, and honors : " There is laid up for 



" STRENGTHEN THINGS WHICH REMAIN." 261 

me a crown." He pierces the future, and dwells 
joyously on the hour of his coronation. He will be 
acknowledged, exalted, glorified. " The Lord," whom 
he has served, and for whom he has suffered, will 
place that crown on his brow. It will be his own 
crown — studded with many stars, won, through the 
grace of Christ, in Damascus, in Jerusalem, in Cor- 
inth, in Athens, in Rome, in many other cities, and 
in the " regions beyond." The Lord, the righteous 
Judge, will give it to him at that day. He will take 
it from the hand of Jesus himself, and he will wear 
it, in his heavenly kingdom, forever. No marvel 
that this prince of missionary bishops sends forth 
such a shout — a shout of victory over sin and Satan 
— a shout that seems to stun the very ear of death, 
to rend the far-off heavens, and to ring in triumphant 
. peals through successive ages ! 

Recently, in the city of Philadelphia, a good old 
man, greatly honored in the Church, after a holy life 
of eminent usefulness, in which pen and tongue 
were consecrated to Christ, went suddenly to his 
rest. And men who knew and honored Albert 
Barnes — and their name is legion — will read, with 
eyes swimming with joyous tears, these memorable 
words, which constitute the closing paragraphs of 
the last volume of his great life-work : 

" I cannot lay down my pen at the end of this 
long task without feeling that with me the work of 
life is nearly over. Yet I could close it at no better 
place than in finishing the exposition of this book ; 
and the language with which the Book of Psalms 
itself closes seems to me to be eminently appropriate 
to all that I have experienced. All that is past — all 



262 SHOUT SEBMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

in the prospect of what is to come — calls for a long, 
a joyful, a triumphant Halleluia ! " 

Happy old man ! Only Christ can make life and 
death so beautiful, so full of satisfaction, so exultant, 
so glorious ! 



THE LA W OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 263 



XXXI. 

THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 



"For}-e have the poor always with you; but me ye have not 
always." — Matt. xxvi. 11. 

It was Ruskin, I think, who said that " fools were 
made that wise men might take care of them ; " and it 
is certain that, in a majority of cases, poverty may be 
traced to folly, idleness, and crime. Nevertheless, 
when a poor wretch stands shivering and hungry at 
our door, we cannot repulse him because of his im- 
providence and dissoluteness, and leave him to perish. 
We must put bread into the mouths of the hungry, and 
clothing on the limbs of the naked, although we know 
that the objects of our charity have been reduced to 
their miserable condition by wastefulness, intemper- 
ance, and the worst forms of transgression. Un- 
thriftiness is not, after all, an unpardonable sin, and 
the worst men cannot be allowed to starve. That 
men do not deserve charity is no reason for with- 
holding it. A majority, perhaps, of those who crave 
assistance need the forbearance quite as much as the 
beneficence of their fellows. 

It must be conceded, however, that pauperism is a 
dead-weight on society. It drains away the life-blood 
of the community, and renders nothing in return. It 
is a heavier tax than any which the State imposes, 



264 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



and it has no compensations. It is simply a burden 
to be borne, a nuisance to be suffered, and a wrong 
and outrage which has to be endured. The man who, 
by industry and enterprise, provides for his own house- 
hold, perhaps not without hardship and difficulty, 
finds that he has also to provide for the household of 
his neighbor, who has spent his time in idleness and 
dissipation. The unexpected result annoys him, 
and he rails at paupers as thieves. How far is his 
complaint just ? How much have society and Chris- 
tianity a right to demand ? and what is the remedy 
for these evils ? 

There is in the world a legitimate poverty. This 
should never be forgotten : " Ye have the poor always 
with you." The maimed, the infirm, the orphaned, 
the blasted by providential visitations — these will 
remain proper objects of Christian charity, awakening 
the most tender and touching manifestations of Chris- 
tian kindness and love, till the Son of God shall 
again appear on the earth. It is not difficult to pro- 
vide for these in any community. What grinds 
people is the necessity of taking care of those who 
are able to take care of themselves, and who ought to 
do it. It is the bastard poverty, which has no right 
to be in the world, that men loathe and reprobate. 
And the evil is one of gigantic proportions. More 
money is wrung out of society to meet this necessity, 
by voluntary and involuntary contributions, than 
would support all the Churches and Church missions 
on the face of the earth. And this poverty — the prod- 
uct of waste, idleness, intemperance, and crime — can 
never be removed by charity. We might as well 
attempt to fill up the ocean by casting pebbles into 



THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 265 



its depths. How, then, is this question to be met ? 
What remedy or relief is within our reach ? 

1. In the first place, The sources of pauperism must 
be dried up. The chiefest of these is intemperance. 
The waste of this sinful indulgence is immense. 
The amount paid for the fiery stimulant, the loss of 
time, the impaired and ultimately ruined health, the 
property destroyed, and the criminal acts, with all 
their consequences, which follow, make up, in the 
aggregate, such an imposition on honest industry as, 
if levied by a government, would excite an insurrection 
in any country under the sun. But if men will 
license, sanction, and support the rum traffic, they 
must calculate to carry its loads and experience its 
horrors. 

Idleness imposes heavy burdens on society. The 
idlers are the drones which the busy bees have to 
toil through sunshine and storm to support. Many 
of them ought to be stung to death, or driven igno- 
miniously from the hive. Loafers, dead-beats, and 
such characters, should be put to work, and made to 
earn their own livelihood. Young men, and young 
women, too, should be taught trades, or made masters 
of some useful and respectable business. It is a very 
significant remark in a recent message of Governor 
Brown, of Missouri, that a large share of those who are 
within the walls of the penitentiary had, when they 
came there, no trades, and no certain means of self- 
support. Idleness, poverty and crime naturally 
resulted. Parents are greatly at fault in this matter. 
The rich and influential classes ought especially to 
set a salutary example in this regard, and to train 
their sons and daughters to habits of industry, and 



266 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



prepare them for any and every exigency of life. 
When Louis Philippe was King of the French, he was 
accustomed to astonish his gay court and the attend- 
ing embassadors of other powers by declaring that he 
was the only monarch in Europe fit to reign, for he 
had blackened his own boots, and he could do it 
again. In like manner, a Chicago clergyman affirmed 
over the ruins of his Church and of the homes of his 
people, " I have made a good horse-shoe, and I have 
not forgotten my trade." There was in it a manliness 
and self-reliance which stirred the heart of the nation. 
The young should be taught that labor is honorable, 
that idleness is a disgrace, and that for a healthy man 
to live on the products of another man's muscle and 
brain is a species of robbery — a sin and a shame. 
Habits of economy and of small and regular savings 
for future needs should be encouraged. Savings- 
banks have kept thousands of young men from ex- 
travagance, dissipation, and crime. The Christian 
doctrine, that what is given as a genuine charity for 
Jesus' sake, will be abundantly rewarded, even in this 
world, ought also to be diligently inculcated. 

The most useful Christian charities, in large cities 
especially, are those which take care of young chil- 
dren, prevent their growing up in idle and vicious 
habits, find them good homes in Christian families, 
and insure them a future of decency and respect- 
ability. Such institutions lighten every man's taxes, 
as well as honor humanity and beautify our Christian 
civilization. 

2. Men must be helped by helping them to help them- 
selves. 

This is the way we are helped to win the crown 



THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 



267 



of life. We can work out our own salvation, because 
God worketh in us. We receive strength' to stretch 
out the withered hand. We go to Siloam's pool and 
wash, and come seeing. And this law of salvation 
is also the law of Christian charity. We must help 
men to help themselves. They do not so much need 
to have bread put into their mouths as tools into 
their hands. Their great necessity is opportunity. 
We must give them a chance — a chance to work, to 
live cheap, to save something, to provide for antici- 
pated sickness, infirmity, and age, and to maintain 
their self-respect, independence, and manhood. 

One of the grandest charities in which a wealthy 
man could engage in this city, or in any other city, 
would be the erection of blocks of cheap houses, which 
could be sold to laborers and artisans at from two thou- 
sand to three thousand dollar's each, on long time and 
low rates of interest, so that, by paying scarcely more 
than the usual rent, a home and freehold property 
might, after awhile, be acquired. Such a man would 
get his money all back, confer an inestimable favor on 
hundreds of households, make himself myriads of de- 
voted friends, and greatly increase his treasure in the 
kingdom of heaven. In like manner, men who em- 
ploy their capital in business enterprises so as to give 
employment to others act a more Christian part than 
those who invest it in unproductive real estate, or 
miserly hoard it in the mad folly of a covetous greed. 
How plain, in view of all these things, is the Christian 
doctrine of our common brotherhood! We belong 
to one houshold ; and to improve the condition of 
any one is to increase the prosperity of the whole 
family. 



268 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



3. The highest style of charity is charity to the souls 
of men. What else does our Saviour mean when he 
affirms : " Ye have the poor always with you ; but 
me ye have not always ? " Consider the circum- 
stances. Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Si- 
mon, and "they made him a supper." And while 
he sat at meat Mary took a pound of ointment of 
spikenard, very costly, and broke the alabaster box, 
and anointed the head and feet of Jesus with the 
precious unguent, and wiped his feet with the hairs of 
her head, and the room was filled with the fragrant 
odor. The quantity of ointment used has been 
thought much too large ; but, as Olshausen argues, 
the whole act must be regarded as a kind of extrava- 
gance of love. Mary gave all she had without hesi- 
tating or economizing. Her gratitude and enthusi- 
astic devotion sought the fullest expression. But 
this act of lavish love was sharply criticised. Some, 
at least, of the disciples of Jesus had indignation, and 
inquired, " To what purpose is this waste ? " This 
ointment, they said, might have been sold for much, 
and given to the poor. "John informs us," says 
Whedon, " that the utterer of this benevolent talk 
was Judas ; not because he cared for the poor, but 
because he was a covetous thief at heart, being carrier 
of the money-bag. Mary meant it for a token of love 
to him, the Redeemer of the world. There are thou- 
sands who think that money given for the Gospel 
had better be bestowed in mere temporal supplies ; 
forgetting that it is much better to bestow upon men 
those principles which will make them wise, good, 
and industrious, than to give them supplies which 
will leave them as wicked and thriftless as ever. 



THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 



269 



Could the faith that Mary showed in the Redeemer 
inspire all the world, the poor would be easily taken 
care of." Judas made the calculation, and found that 
the ointment was worth three hundred pence, or about 
forty-five dollars ; " thrice the price," adds Whedon 
sharply, " for which Judas sold his Lord." 

But our Saviour defends the uncalculating love of 
this devoted woman. " She hath wrought a good 
work upon me ; she did it for my burial ; ye have 
always the poor with you, but me ye have not always." 
Your charity toward the poor, in other words, will 
lack neither occasions nor objects for its exercise ; 
but this woman has performed a work of piety, 
prompted by overflowing love, which is worthy of 
commendation, and which shall secure her undying 
remembrance in my Church. " It is supposed by 
some that Mary had either been informed by our 
Lord of his approaching death, or that she had some 
prophetic presentiment of it. It may be remarked 
that, for the sake of propriety, our Lord was regu- 
larly accompanied by twelve male disciples ; but the 
Gospels take care to assure us that those who believed 
and loved him were not all men ; but that woman in 
her place was not less true to his divine claims than 
man. Of this fact Mary is the most striking instance ; 
and the meek, silent, and sudden manner in which 
she comes from her retirement, perhaps from her 
place of prayer, where the sad future of our Lord 
may have been intimated to her, in to this feast, and 
performs this act of sorrowful affection, is a special 
exemplification. It may well be thought possible that 
our Lord communicated to her a clearer knowledge 
of his approaching death than to his disciples ; or it 



270 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



may be that to her, as to a divine love, was imparted 
the spiritual presentiment of the truth. And yet, 
finally, it is very possible that she acted from the 
simple impulse of love ; and that our Lord himself, 
giving it a higher meaning, elevated the act into a 
prediction of his approaching burial. ,, 

This much, at least, is plain, that Jesus recognizes 
and honors an act of love and piety, and has em- 
balmed it in fragrant memories for all ages, even 
though the claims of humanity, the temporal neces- 
sities of men, were urged as a reason why it should 
not have been performed. The Gospel of Christ is 
not a mere gospel of humanity — of reliefs and tempo- 
raries ; it is devout, spiritual, and benevolent in the 
broadest and most extended applications. It consid- 
ers all the interests of men, anc\ especially the high- 
est. It brings blessings of incalculable value to men, 
considered only in their temporal relations ; but its 
divinest charity is for their souls — its grandest benefi- 
cence that which secures their immortality. In his 
note on the parallel place in John, VVhedon says : 
" Covetousness and irreverence are here covered 
under the cloak of benevolence. The poor are, in- 
deed, as the Scriptures abundantly teach, a promi- 
nent object of Christian duty. Yet poverty is no 
merit, but is very often the due penalty of idleness 
and unthrift. The due expenditures of art and 
taste are right, as tending to civilize and elevate 
mankind ; the wealth laid out in awakening the senti- 
ment of worship is still more right, as contributing 
to spiritualize the heart of man." It is a significant 
remark of Bengel's, that "avarice makes the poor 
its pretext, and that sometimes seriously ; for it hates 



THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 27 1 



even genuine munificence ; " and an unknown author 
has observed that the good work which was to be done 
soon or never, was preferable to that of which the 
opportunities were continual. 

We must, then, if we enter into the spirit of the 
life and teachings of Jesus, devote ourselves, first and 
chiefly, to the interests of men's souls, making even 
charity to their bodies, the relief of their temporal needs, 
means of transmitting to them some spiritual benefi- 
cence. Their instruction and sanctification as immor- 
tal beings is the grand object of which we must never 
lose sight. They will often require to be fed and 
clothed and sheltered ; but their highest necessities 
are, the bread of life, robes of Gospel purity, and 
mansions of rest in the heavenly kingdom. 

We have recently been taught by one of our most de- 
servedly eminent and truly evangelical ministers, that 
" so far as the conversion of souls is concerned, the 
chief use of preaching is its effect on the young. The 
great mass of our unconverted adult population is 
doomed, self-doomed. It is no limitation of the 
power of grace to say that, unless the world is visited 
with unrevealed and tenfold energies of the Holy 
Ghost the impenitent adult masses will perish? 

But the Church has no right to despair of the con- 
version of any soul this side of perdition ; in every 
means of grace the salvation of sinners — all classes 
of sinners — ought to be expected. 

The Scriptures teach us that there is fearful power 
in unbelief to stay the mighty hand of a loving Lord. 
And, perhaps, the general expectation among Chris- 
tians that adult sinners will live and die sinners is 
the chief cause of their continued impenitency. Is 



272 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



not this phrase, " The adult masses are doomed," an 
excuse for inactivity and unbelief, which has grown 
up in a formal, worldly, un consecrated, backslidden, 
and infidel Church ? Of course, a Church with all 
the sinews of its faith thus cut asunder expects noth- 
ing, and achieves nothing. The missionary successes 
of the Baptist Church taught its foreign missionary 
board the sublime words : " Attempt great things for 
God ; expect great things from God/' But this de- 
spairing utterance in regard to the probable future of 
adult sinners is in quite another strain. Though 
not so intended by its author, whose warm heart 
glows for the salvation of every soul, it is a saying 
which is as cold as an iceberg, as cruel as the grave, 
and as terrible as hell. It is bad theology, for it 
practically terminates probation. It is contrary to 
experience, for the Gospel has always triumphed over 
adult sinners, such as Paul, Luther, Bunyan, Newton, 
and thousands of others. It is bad philosophy, for 
it throttles faith, quenches hope, and cuts the sinews 
of every exertion. 

It is, however, objected that, " unless the world 
is visited with unrevealed and tenfold energies of the 
Holy Ghost, the impenitent adult masses will per- 
ishr Those unrevealed energies of the Holy Spirit 
are precisely what we ought to expect ; and they will 
be given tenfold, and, if need be, a thousandfold, 
in answer to the faith and prayer of a consecrated and 
believing Church. But it is urged that scarcely any 
impression is made " on the outlying masses of false 
religion, and irreligion and crime. ,, Of course not ; 
for scarcely any effort is made in the direction indi- 
cated. A Protestantism which builds fine churches, 



THE. LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 273 



in fashionable localities, where select societies can be 
secured, and which does not believe that vulgar, 
drunken, abandoned sinners can do any thing else 
than be damned, need not marvel that its career is 
not crowned with missionary successes, and that its 
altars do not thunder with revival power. Ought 
such an evangelism, however, to call itself by the name 
of John Wesley ? 

"Have you ever known," it has been asked, "ten 
Romanists converted in all your life ? or ten Jews ? " 
Suffer me also to ask one question : " Have you ever - 
known ten Protestants, I will venture to say ten 
Methodists, in all your life, to make an earnest, lov- 
ing, persistent effort to bring a Romanist or a Jew 
to Jesus ? " Are not those classes even more zealous 
and self-denying for their own faith than we are for 
ours ? How can we expect the Holy Spirit to be 
given, with its unrevealed and multiplied energies, 
except to attend our testimonies, to follow our believing 
prayers, and to make our feeble efforts powerful for 
the world's conversion ? And have we any right 
to look for the Holy Spirit, except according to the 
measure of our faith and confidence and earnest 
expectation ? 

We must remember that the mission of the Gospel 
is to the poor, the unfortunate, the imprisoned, the 
sin and sorrow-burdened masses of men. If God has 
kept a poor, abandoned w r retch out of hell, it is on 
purpose that he might be saved. Methodism will 
lose its glory when it ceases to go to the hospital, the 
prison, and the most abandoned locality, and when it 
no longer expects the world's reprobates to become 

the elect and chosen of God, at its altars. 

IS 



274 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

Every body must preach this Gospel. We depend 
too much on the pulpit, too much on the Sabbath- 
school, too little on ourselves — on God's blessing on 
our own testimony and labors. We read of one sick 
of the palsy who was brought to Christ, "borne of 
four/' It often requires a number of earnest souls, 
uniting their faith and labors, to bring a sinner to 
Jesus. And " their faith " prevailed. It was a 
quintuple faith ; perhaps nothing less would have 
sufficed. 

We must come up to this standard. At the battle 
of the Alma, we are told, when one of the English 
regiments was being beaten back by the forces of 
Russia, the ensign in front stood his ground as the 
troops retreated. The captain shouted to him to 
bring back the colors ; but the reply of the ensign 
was, " Bring up the men to the colors." 

There they are ! Jesus planted them ! In the 
world, on the very ramparts of hell, they wave ! "In 
hoc signo vincesT Nothing will suffice, except per- 
sonal, consecrated effort ; but that will produce great 
results in the unlikeliest directions. It may bring a 
cross and a martyr's doom, but it will insure a crown 
and a heavenly glory. 

Revivals of religion are born of such labors ; and 
revivals of religion bring joy to God's people, and 
awaken new and glorious hopes in dark and despair- 
ing breasts. Nevertheless, " the revival system " is 
denounced by a Churchly authority as being pro- 
ductive of certain " pernicious effects," which are 
" manifest to thoughtful men." And the labors of 
evangelists are specially deprecated, who, though 
" burning with zeal," are " uncontrolled by any 



THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN CHABITY. 275 



diocesan authority." The rise of Methodism was 
precisely in this way. It was a flood which could 
not be confined within any appointed bounds. The 
Gospel rule is, "Let him that heareth say, Come." 
When men's hearts burn within them, they will 
testify of the grace of God ; and when earnest 
Christian testimonies are given, some will heed and 
be converted. 

The " revival system " is simply an attempt to 
make the preaching of the word and the appointed 
means of grace immediately effective in the conversion 
of souls. It goes on the supposition that men are 
instructed in divine things, that they know their duty, 
and they have only to seek in order to find the grace 
of regeneration. They need, according to the revival 
theory, to have their convictions deepened, to be 
awakened from sin's sleep to a consciousness of 
danger, and to be induced to engage at once in 
earnest efforts for the soul's salvation. Now, if sin 
be always a peril, if repentance be always a duty, if 
holiness be always a privilege, if the need of prepara- 
tion for death, judgment and eternity be always im- 
portant, and if the Gospel invitation be always, 
" Come, for all things are now ready," why should 
not the Church act as if she expected sinners to come 
and be saved without delay, and resort to all appro- 
priate means and appliances to lead them to decision, 
immediate effort, and positive commitment to the 
obligations of a Christian life ? The " pernicious 
effects " of which complaint has been made are 
rather the abuses than the legitimate results of the 
revival system, and many of them may be success- 
fully obviated. Some evils are, perhaps, incidental 



276 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

to the system and inseparable from it. If one travels 
by steam he encounters peculiar perils, but then he 
gets along) which is the chief object in traveling after 
all. Formalism, to be sure, will never engender 
fanaticism ; but formalism is death. A Church may 
be so orderly and respectable as to lose utterly its 
evangelical power. It will thus escape many excesses ; 
but what will remain worthy of preservation? A 
Church is to be estimated like a mill, not by the mass- 
iveness of its external structure, the magnificence of 
its machinery and the splendor of its furnishings, 
but by the quantity of flour it will produce. The 
practical question is, What grist does it grind ? Bet- 
ter that a stone should burst occasionally in the rapid 
movement, than that our corn should be pounded 
in a mortar. And better that the regularly 
trained miller should " fire up " to the full capacity 
of his machinery, than that his failure to supply the 
people with bread should cause the irruption of fiery 
zealots, who would, indeed, meet the demand, at least 
for a season, but at great risk of disaster and death. 
Would the " followers of the impetuous Dominic," 
for instance, have been able to obtain such influence, 
if the regular clergy had been characterized by zeal 
and self-denial, and had not been 11 tempted by com- 
fortable establishments into indolence and luxury of 
living ? " Why does the parochial system ever " de- 
generate into mere Congregationalism," except for the 
lack of that spirit of evangelism, that disposition to 
do revival-work, that quenchless desire to witness 
immediate results, that burning love for souls and 
for Christ's cause which sends a minister not only 
through his parish, but beyond his parish, calling sin- 



THE LAW OF CIIPJSTIAN CHARITY. 277 



ners to repentance, and gathering trophies for his 
Master ? The burning zeal will flame forth, in utter 
disregard of diocesan authority, if such authority be 
employed for its suppression. Through the Church, 
or over the Church, a genuine revival of religion will 
sweep on, with resistless power, to its glorious con- 
summation. The desire for the salvation of souls is 
not to be suppressed, but directed. Not only may 
separation and schism be prevented, but the Church 
itself substantially profited and munificently enriched. 
Let no Church presume to reject a revival. A flood 
like that of the Nile may cause many inconveniences, 
but the permanent result is a fertility which could 
not otherwise have been realized. The true policy is 
to welcome revivals, but guard against their abuses, 
conform them to Church usages, and make them 
tributary to denominational growth. Many a waste 
place may be rendered by them beautiful and pro- 
ductive as the garden of God. The best way, more- 
over, to keep other people from doing our work is to 
do it ourselves, and to do it a little better than any 
body else can. The Lord sometimes sends storms 
and floods on the earth, and they accomplish salutary 
objects when they come ; but they usually follow pro- 
tracted drouth, or some opposite and violent extreme. 

May God bless his whole Church with the light of 
his countenance, and with grace to discern and wis- 
dom to improve his merciful visitations ! 



278 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



XXXII. 
THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 



" Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth." — Johx xvii, 17. 

These are the words of Jesus. They are a part of 
that last public prayer which he made with his dis- 
ciples, just before his betrayal and agony. He prays 
that they may be kept, that they may be united, that 
they may have his joy fulfilled in them, and that they 
may be sanctified through the truth. Thus will they 
be perfected, become successful evangelists to the 
world, and behold, ultimately, the glory of their risen 
Lord in the everlasting kingdom. We must confine 
our attention, this evening, to the matter and manner 
of their sanctification. In other words, our theme is, 

The truth of God, contained in his word, the instru- 
ment of our sanctification. 

There are two prevalent errors in relation to this 
subject which must, first of all, be considered. 

1. It is an error to suppose that the word is the 
source of sanctifying power. Only the Holy Spirit 
sanctifies — that is, cleanses, purifies, makes holy. 
The truth, however forcibly presented, embodied in 
whatever venerable forms, expressed in liturgies and 
homilies however excellent, or preached with what- 
ever measure of eloquence and power, will not save 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 279 



a single soul. The convincing, awakening, and trans- 
forming energy essential to the great work of salva- 
tion is the immediate result of the Holy Spirit's 
action on the mind and heart of the sinner. 

2. It is an error to suppose that the sanctifying 
power will come,, except through the truth, and from 
an application of the word of God to the hearts and 
consciences of men. If sanctification be realized, it 
is through the truth. The word of God is the 
sword of the Spirit. And it is this word — this sharp, 
powerful, two-edged sword of the Spirit — which 
pierces " even to the dividing asunder of soul and 
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a dis- 
cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The 
truth, then, must be maintained, preached, expressed 
in sacrament and psalm, and relied upon as the Spir- 
it's chosen instrument for the world's conversion. 
First comes hearing, then believing, then deliver- 
ance, exaltation, and eternal life. 

The source, the instrument, the process, and the 
results of salvation are all distinctly set forth in this 
remarkable passage : " In whom ye also trusted, after 
that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your 
salvation ; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye 
were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which 
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemp- 
tion of the purchased possession to the praise of his 
glory." 

Both of these errors, therefore, are to be avoided. 
The one leads to formalism, the other excites fanati- 
cism ; the one prevents and the other corrupts revivals 
of religion ; and both of them obstruct the progress and 
triumph of a pure and holy Christianity in the earth. 



28o SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



The sanctifying power of the truth is demonstrated 
by the fact that the growth of man, of society, and 
of great ideas of justice, humanity, and the progress 
of the race, have been in and through the Holy 
Scriptures. How many moral necessities are met 
by the word of God ! A standard of right and wrong 
is furnished, the advantages of integrity and benefi- 
cence are shown, powerful incentives to right con- 
duct are presented, the future is revealed, and the 
way to God is made plain. The condition in Bible 
lands, as compared with pagan, of women, children, 
the aged, the deaf, the blind, the insane, the idiotic, 
and of all dependent classes, is a standing and very 
forcible illustration of the sanctifying power of the 
truth of God. Degraded classes, moreover, are at 
once uplifted when the doctrines and teachings of 
Holy Scripture are applied to their moral conscious- 
ness by the office and work of the Holy Ghost. It 
also deserves remark that Christian men feel concern 
for such classes, and are moved to labors, outlays, 
and sacrifices in their behalf just as they discern 
them in their relations to God, to the great fact of 
redemption, and to a revealed future of rewards and 
punishments. The gigantic wrongs which have cru- 
elly oppressed humanity in every age, such as spolia- 
tion, slavery, and wars of kingly ambition, melt away 
before the power of Gospel truth as the great ice- 
bergs are dissolved in tropic seas ; and the vices 
which have tyrannized over men, and the superstitions 
which have bound them as with fetters of iron — such 
as intemperance and idolatry — fly before the light of 
inspiration as the darkness before the breaking of 
the day. 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 



28l 



For the institutions we most cherish we are in- 
debted to the Bible. The family, the Church, and 
civil government are divine ordinances, divinely re- 
vealed in the Holy Scriptures. For the sanctity of 
our homes ; for the peace and assurance of our com- 
munity-life, guarded by law and protected by public 
sentiment ; for the hopes we cherish in regard to 
the future of our children ; for the instruction, com- 
munion, and pastoral watch-care of a living Church ; 
for the progress of the race and the triumphs of a 
Christian civilization, we must confess always our 
obligations to the Holy Oracles. Indeed, if we con- 
sider man as organic, that is, in society, how manifest 
it is that the truth of God, on the one hancj, elimi- 
nates evils, and, on the other, promotes all economical 
and social virtues ! 

It is, moreover, the grand necessity of our national 
life. Four causes ruin States : the enervation and 
corruption begotten of wealth and luxury ; the exist- 
ence of gross vices, such as licentiousness and intem- 
perance ; the conflict of classes and races, as being 
white or black, native or foreign born, or as repre- 
senting labor and capital ; the prevalence of great 
wrongs, such as slavery, infanticide, idolatry, and un- 
just and aggressive wars. It requires no argument 
to show that Bible truth is the remedy for each and 
all of these, and is the constant conservator of a true 
national life. 

It is objected, however, that all these evils exist, 
to a greater or less extent, in the most enlightened 
Christian States. True; but consider : r. In pagan- 
ism they predominate ; in Christendom they are re- 
stricted, shamed, and in process of utter extermina- 



282 SHORT 8EBM0N8 ON CONSECRATION. 



tion. 2. In Paganism they are wrought into the 
very texture of society, government, and religion ; in 
Christendom they exist not as a consequence, but in 
defiance, of Christian doctrines and institutions. 
3. To a considerable extent, Christianity has caused 
their removal ; and the general prevalence of Bible 
truth would sanctify wealth, purge away gross vices, 
harmonize antagonistic classes and interests, and 
utterly abolish the cruel wrongs and outrages which 
afflict and crush humanity. 

Bible truth and Gospel experience constantly ; 
tend to produce a pure state of society and a high 
order of man. They are calculated and adapted to 
lift men from the slough of selfishness. They make 
self-forgetfulness and genuine magnanimity of soul 
possible. They inspire grand and heroic self-sacri- 
fices, and they bring men into those sublime altitudes 
where they are superior to personal pleasure, indul- 
gence, or advantage, and where they act for the good 
of their fellows, the honor of truth, and the glory 
of God. 

The teachings of the Bible meet our spiritual 
necessities. They reveal God, the fact of redemp- 
tion, the way to pardon and purity, the source of 
help and strength, and the everlasting possession. 
These are original, radical needs of the human soul, 
which cannot be satisfied in any other direction. I 
remember a grand passage in one of Mitchell's astro- 
nomical lectures, in which he argues that " the anal- 
ogies of nature, applied to the moral government of 
God, would crush all hope in the sinful soul ; " that 
" there is no deviation, no modification, no yielding 
to the refractory or disobedient," and that the guilty 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 



283 



can find no refuge " in the iron, the adamantine, laws of 
physical nature." He says : " Suppose it were possi- 
ble to endow one of these flying worlds — the earth we 
inhabit — with a will and a rational soul ; and the 
earth, now an independent, thinking, willing being, 
should rise in rebellion against the law T s of God's 
control, and refuse longer to obey. The rebellious 
planet exclaims, Let the sun attract me never so 
much, I care not for his heat, his light, his life ; I 
refuse to reciprocate the attraction ; I have a power 
of will supreme ; my destiny is my own ! And thus 
the fatal decision is made. Slowly the rebel world 
wheels, at each revolution, farther and yet farther 
from the great center of life and light. In spiral 
circuit it separates farther and still farther from its 
wonted path, till, finally, cold and darkness and a 
coming death begin to assert their empire over the 
misguided world. With a start of horror, and a shud- 
der which shakes it to the very center, it now wakes 
from its dream of independence, and exclaims, I will 
return ! I will return ! Alas ! the return is impos- 
sible. The laws of nature are irrevocable. The sun 
may yet attract with living power the lost wanderer ; 
but the bond is broken, the equilibrium is forever 
destroyed, and this rebel planet must become a wan- 
dering star, for which is reserved the blackness of 
darkness forever! Close forever, if you will, this 
strange Book, claiming to be God's revelation — blot 
out forever its lessons of God's creative power, God's 
superabounding providence, God's fatherhood and 
loving ; guardianship to man his erring offspring, and 
then unseal the leaves of that mighty volume which 
the finger of God has written in the stars of heaven, 



234 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

and in these flashing letters of living light read only 
the dread sentence : ' The soul that sinneth, it shall 
surely die ! ' " 

Such is the chill and darkness of deism ! A world 
without a Redeemer ! a soul without a Saviour ! But 
he who clasps this Bible to his bosom may exclaim 
with rapture, Blessed be God for a vision higher 
than the heavens ; for a revelation of the supernat- 
ural and eternal ; for the cloudless sky of God's for- 
bearing and restoring love, bright with rainbow hues 
of pledge and prophecy, lighted up with constellations 
of promise, surpassing far the sweet influences of the 
Pleiades, and blazing with a glory unknown to Arc- 
turus and his sons ; effulgent every-where with out- 
beaming manifestations of the divine mercy and for- 
bearance ; having, like our Southern hemisphere, for 
its chiefest glory the sign and semblance of the Cross, 
no longer planted on the earth, but glowing in the 
heavens, and radiant with apocalyptic vistas open- 
ing and reaching even to the throne of the eternal 
God! 

There are some lessons to be derived from this 
subject, which deserve serious consideration : 

1. Parents ought to read the Bible to their chil- 
dren. " The spiced embalming," it is said, " out- 
lasts the mummy in his rocky tomb ; " and the fra- 
grance of family worship — of hearth-stone teachings 
of divine truth— will survive the lapse and changes 
of years. It will live in the memory, a source of admo- 
nition, instruction, and sanctifying power, long after 
the lips which uttered the precious message have 
ceased to speak and turned to ashes. 

2. Readiness to receive the truth is essential no- 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 



285 



bility of soul. " These [in Berea] were more noble 
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the 
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the 
Scriptures daily whether those things were so." These 
Bereans were intrinsically noble, for they were supe- 
rior to prejudice, ready to be enlightened — to be 
rebuked even — and desirous to be led into all truth. 
" Readiness of mind," says Bengel. " and accurate 
scrutiny correspond ; " and to this accurate scrutiny 
of her inspired oracles Christianity invites all oppos- 
ers and infidels. She commends those who search 
the Scriptures daily to see whether the alleged facts 
of revelation are consistent, rational, and worthy of 
belief and trust. " Whoever would attain," says 
Locke, " to a true knowledge of the Christian relig- 
ion, in the full and just extent of it, let him study the 
Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament, 
wherein are contained the words of eternal life. It 
has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, 
without any mixture of error, for its matter." 

La Capitale, an infidel paper of large circulation, 
printed at Rome, thus comments on Signor Ribetti's 
Wednesday lectures : " We do not at all agree with 
him that every thing in the Bible is genuine ; but it 
must be confessed, there is no weapon so terrible as 
the Bible for fighting the Roman Catholic priesthood. 
In fact it [Romanism] lies crushed beneath these 
quotations. This is not a Book ; it is a millstone, 
grinding all the Lent preachers to powder? 

That is, the infidel sees that Romanism cannot 
resist Bible truth ; but does not discern — strangely 
does not — that a Book which is more than a Book, 
even a divine millstone of judgment and wrath 



286 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

against sin and falsehood, will not only grind the 
Papacy to powder, but the whole superstructure of 
infidelity also. Not only the Church, but the world, 
is to be sanctified and saved by that revealed truth 
which is the word of God and the sword of the Spirit, 
and which was " written for our learning, that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
might have hope." 

There is in " English, Past and Present," a tribute 
to our English Bible which has been ascribed to 
John Henry Newman, a pervert to Romanism, but 
which Trench informs us, in a late edition of the 
work just mentioned, may be found in an Essay by the 
late Very Reverend Doctor Faber on " The Character- 
istics of the Lives of the Saints." In any case, it is 
Romish testimony to the value of those Scriptures 
which hallow our altars and adorn our homes. These 
are the words : " Who will not say that the uncom- 
mon beauty and marvelous English of the Protestant 
Bible is not one of the great strongholds of heresy in 
this country ? It lives on the ear like a music that 
can never be forgotten ; like the sound of church 
bells which the convert hardly knows how he can 
forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things 
rather than mere words. It is part of the national 
mind, and the anchor of national seriousness. The 
memory of the dead passes into it. The potent tra- 
ditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. 
The power of all the griefs and trials of man is hidden 
beneath its words. It is the representative of his 
best moments, and all that has been about him of 
soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, 
speaks to him out of his English Bible. It is his 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH. 



287 



sacred thing, which doubt has never dimmed, and 
controversy never soiled. In the length and breadth 
of the land, there is not a Protestant with one spark 
of religiousness about him whose spiritual biography- 
is not in the Saxon Bible." 

3. We ought to judge ourselves by the word — that 
word which will judge us in the last day. Wherein 
are we guilty ? Let the Bible answer. What do we 
need in order to perfection of character, power 
of usefulness, and a good hope of eternal life ? The 
Bible will show us. What are our privileges in the 
way of Christian attainment, the discernment of faith, 
and extent of influence ? We may surely learn from 
the oracles of God. To what work of piety, benefi- 
cence, or evangelism, are we called ? The Lord will 
instruct us from the word of inspiration. What are 
our possibilities of experience, growth, and Christian 
manhood ? In whose teachings but those of Jesus 
can we find any thing like a satisfactory response ? 
What is the measure ' of our just expectations for 
this world and for the world to come ? The sure 
word of prophecy will guide our doubting feet until 
the day dawn and a cloudless and eternal splendor 
enraptures our vision. For all the needs, trials, and 
exigencies of life Bible truth will fully prepare us, if 
applied to our minds and hearts by the sanctifying 
power of the Holy Ghost. 

4. The world is waiting and dying for the precious 
message of salvation. It is the imperative duty of 
those who have received this word of promise to give 
it to others who are in darkness and in the shadow 
of death ; and the most beneficent results for indi- 
viduals and communities, for time and eternity, will 



288 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



follow. Give the world the Bible, and Paganism will 
disappear ; the religion of Mohammed, which survives 
only because it enshrines a portion of the truth of 
God, will become wholly Christian or wholly false 
and contemptible ; the ancient superstitions of 
Buddha will exhale as the mists of the morning, and 
the millions of China will turn from the philosophy 
of Confucius to the precepts of Jesus. Press on the 
public conscience the authority of God's word, and 
corruption in high places will be rebuked ; the deadly 
miasms, born of the filth of great cities, will be purged 
away ; intemperance will cease its work of wasting 
and death ; desolated homes will be restored to Eden 
loveliness ; Churches will become a living power, 
and thousands in the darkness of nature's night, and 
led captive by Satan at his chariot wheels, will be 
brought into the marvelous light of a Gospel day, and 
will be made to rejoice in the liberty of the sons of 
God. 



THE ETERNITY OF CHARACTER. 



289 



XXXIII. 

THE ETERNITY OF CHARACTER. 



" He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he which is filthy, 
let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still: and he that is holy, let him be-holy still." — Rev. xxii, 11. 

"My Lord Cardinal/' said Anne of Austria, to 
Richelieu, who exercised for a long time a cruel and 
despotic power, " God does not pay at the end of every 
week, but at the last he pays!' This is an assertion 
of the doctrine that God governs the world. He gov- 
erns it in detail, that is, fully, comprehensively, abso- 
lutely. No human act escapes him. No thought or 
desire or secret purpose evades the glance of his 
searching eye. It is a necessity of the moral gov- 
ernment of God, that every sin should be noticed in 
some way, either pardoned or punished. 

And though this is not a world of retribution, and 
though injustice and oppression often seem to prosper 
and triumph, yet in the end God pays. And what is 
more, and more to the purpose of our text, he pays 
in kind. These Scriptures establish our point : " Say 
ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him ; 
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto 
the wicked ! it shall be ill with him ; for the reward of 
his hands shall be given him.' , " His own iniquity shall 
take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with 
the cords of his sins." " The backslider in heart 

19 



2Q0 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



shall be filled with his own ways " — the most terrible 
malediction which could be pronounced on him — 
"and a good man shall be satisfied from himself" — 
that is, with the consciousness of his own rectitude. 

The Lord, moreover, says of such as have hated 
knowledge and despised reproof, and would none of 
his counsel, " Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of 
their own way, and be filled with their own devices ; 
for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, 
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." " Evil 
men and seducers," in fche very nature of things, 
" wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 

Our characters constantly tend to fixedness. They 
harden by life's processes. The current of our natures 
grows stronger with advancing years. It becomes, 
finally, difficult, if not impossible, to change its course, 
except God's miraculous grace shall interpose. The 
Scriptures teach us this same truth : " Can the Ethi- 
opian change his skin or the leopard his spots ? then 
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." 

And yet this is a remedial dispensation. God in- 
terposes graciously and constantly in behalf of men. 
A miraculous mercy overflows from the divine heart 
to sinners. There are gentle interpositions which 
come like the dew, or the sunshine, or the summer 
rain ; and there are mighty manifestations of God 
which shake us like tempests, or earthquakes, or vol- 
canic eruptions. Our characters by these ministra- 
tions are transformed and revolutionized. Some- 
times the transformation is gradual, like the breaking 
of the morning, the advance of spring, or the melting 
of icebergs in tropic seas. Sometimes it is sudd<?n, 
as if men had been lifted at once to a higher plane 



THE ETERNITY OF CHARACTER. 29 1 



of being, to move henceforth through a grander 
sphere. An earthquake in southern seas is said to 
have brought an island of diamonds to the surface ; 
so by the convulsion of conversion the lessons of 
childhood, the virtues excited by the discipline of 
years, the inner graces of the Spirit, are brought to 
view, and men marvel at the miraculous change. 

We see the same law working in society. The 
supreme government of the world is on the side of 
the right. The Duke of Weimar said of the tyranny 
of the First Napoleon in Germany, " It is unjust, and 
therefore it cannot last." And, in the long run, the 
criticism is correct. Feudalism, despotism, slavery, 
aggressive wars, every species of wrong and outrage, 
disappear before the onward march of the Gospel. 
The general principle of the divine administration is 
expressed in these words : " He looketh upon men, 
and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which 
was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his 
soul from going into the pit, and Ms life shall see the 
light." The Word and Providence and Spirit of God 
are a trinity of mighty agencies to turn man back 
from destruction. The truth of God, morever, acts 
as a transforming leaven in society, and the end of 
Christ's reign is to set judgment in the earth. 

But this text contemplates a period when these 
remedial agencies will cease ; when probation will 
end ; when retribution, unmixed with mercy, will 
begin. Then the Saviour will be no longer a Saviour. 
His atoning sacrifice will be no longer prevalent. 
His intercessions will close. He will no longer act 
as High Priest over the House of God. He will 
leave the mediatorial throne, and offer no more pray- 



292 SHORT SEBMOXS CLY COXSECRATIOX. 



ers for sinful man. Then the Holy Spirit will cease 
its gracious offices, and convince no more of sin, 
righteousness, and judgment. Then the Providence 
of God will no more mean, as always now, salvation. 
We shall then come to a fixed, unalterable, and eter- 
nal state. The unjust and filthy will remain unjust 
and filthy forever ; the righteous and holy will re- 
main righteous and holy forever. This will be the 
punishment — the reward; they will forever remain 
what they are. 

It does not need the mist of darkness, the quench- 
less flame, the companionship of devils, to make 
a hell for a filthy and unjust soul. Like Milton's 
outcast archangel, such a soul might say, " Which 
way shall I fly ? which way I fly is hell ; myself am 
helV' 

And, on the other hand, a soul conformed to recti- 
tude, and possessed of holiness, has within itself a 
constant heaven, whether or not it has inherited, as 
yet, the cloudless l£fhd, the golden city, the robe, the 
palm, and the crown. 

Think of remaining unjust, impure, hateful, envi- 
ous, malicious, covetous, deceitful, proud, false, im- 
placable, murderous toward every creature, and 
traitorous and rebellious toward God, forei'er — is not 
that hell ? And to be just, pure, good, meek, gentle, 
loving, joyful, forever — to have, in a word, a great 
and noble character, in which all the fruits of the 
Spirit have come to perfection, and glow with im- 
mortal richness and beauty — is not that heaven ? 

i. We are taught by this subject, first, the fearful 
power and ruin of transgression. To-day, your 
prompt decisive, strong "I will," and God's power- 



THE ETERNITY OF CHARACTER. 293 

ful grace, may enable you to turn from sinful indul- 
gence and the pit of infamy, and to obtain a holy 
character and an immortal life ; but to-morrow your 
power of choice will be weaker, your vision of moral 
excellence dimmer, your love of sinful indulgence 
greater, your slavery to wicked habits stronger, till, 
at length, bound securely to Satan's triumphal char- 
iot wheels, you will be dragged irresistibly down to 
death and hell. Besides, you know not at what 
moment the resistless decree of the Almighty will 
close your probation, and fix your character and des- 
tiny forever. 

2. The grandest aspiration of the soul is for holi- 
ness, and this should be our chief aim in life. Holi- 
ness is wholeness — that is, complete moral manhood. 
Can any thing more desirable be conceived ? Dr. T. 
L. Cuyler defines holiness as " the habit of agreeing 
with God in all things." And all our troubles have 
come from our disagreeing with God. It is the high- 
est wisdom to study to know the divine mind, and to 
conform therewith in heart and life. " Be ye holy," 
is the command of the Highest, "for I the Lord your 
God am holy." Thus he makes it possible for us to 
come into the same lofty and glorious plane of being 
in which he himself dwells. This is the creature's 
highest privilege, duty, and dignity. And full pro- 
vision is made in the Gospel for the attainment of 
holiness, and for its retention as a living and abiding 
experience of the soul. Think of the unutterable 
bliss of being holy forever. 

?' Pursue," says Bishop Foster, " the upward des- 
tiny of a soul brightening under the smile of God 
forever ; see its ever-increasing and unfolding beauty ; 



294 SHORT SERMOXS OX COXSECRATIOX. 



hear the ravishing melody of its triumphant song. 
A thousand ages are fled. Behold the augmented 
and ever -expanding glory, ascending, widening its 
circle, becoming more and more like God, and losing 
itself ever in his ineffable radiance. Such is the des- 
tiny of a soul washed in the blood of Jesus. Behold, 
on the other hand, a soul darkening under the frown 
of Jehovah. Ages fly away. Its darkness broods 
darker still ; its sorrow gathers down in closer folds ; 
it is lost. The lengthened periods of eternity roll by, 
but they bring no redemption ; deep, dark, dismal 
gloom settles down around its sphere forever. Learn, 
by the contrast, the value of holiness. Its presence 
is life — its absence is eternal death. Could you pur- 
sue the contrast through eternity, could you have but 
a faint glimpse of the reality, you would no longer 
rest, but fly in trembling haste to a Saviours wounds 
for shelter and for life." 

O, bliss of the purified ! O, mighty love of a 
Saviour ! Are they not worthy of immortal song ? 

3. Finally, our great concern is with eternity. Wes- 
ley used to stir himself to activity and sacrifice with 
the battle-shout, " There is another world ! " " Take 
this watch, my friend," said an English patriot, as he 
mounted the scaffold to die for liberty, " I have noth- 
ing to do with time henceforth ; only with eternity." 
Soon this hour will strike for every one of us, and 
nothing will interest us for a moment but eternity, 
" Where will you spend your eternity ? " was the title 
of an article which I somewhere read. It is a vastly 
important question. Put it in this shape : " What 
will be my character in eternity ? " The answer to 
this will determine every thing else in respect to 



THE ETERNITY OF CHARACTER. 295 



your future. Christ's great question is, "What shall 
it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his soul ? " And who will venture on an answer ? 
Soon it will be said to every one of us, " He that is 
unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he which is filthy, 
let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let 
him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him 
be holy still." Beyond all changes of time comes 
the changeless, eternal state. Let us pray to God to 
bring us all, at last, to the heaven of the holy, where 
we may greet those who have gone before us, and 
dwell in a holy place, with a holy God, and " shout 
and wonder at his grace to all eternity." 



296 



SHORT SERMONS OX 



CONSECRATION. 



XXXIV. 
THE AMARANTHINE CROWN. 



"And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a 
crown of glory that fadeth not away." — 1 Pet. v. 4. 

Ax attempt was recently made to assassinate King 
Amadeus of Spain. The diabolical outrage was not 
instigated, it is said, by personal enemies, but by 
political — by ambitious aspirants for the Spanish 
crown. And yet what is this crown for which men 
are willing to run such desperate risks ? It is, at 
the best, only the insignia of position and power, 
with all the burden of care and responsibility which 
these bring. It is a diadem which has only the 
splendor of earth ; it is a laurel wreath which must 
wither at the touch of the frosts of Time •; it is an 
aureole which excites no special reverence, and has 
no fadeless attractions. 

But the crown of which the apostle speaks is alto- 
gether of another character. Alford translates : " Ye 
shall receive the amaranthine crown of his glory." 
This crown, which the Chief Shepherd bestows, is 
one of unwithering and eternal splendor. Benson 
describes it as " a crown which shall bloom in immor- 
tal beauty and vigor, when all the transitory glories 
of this world are withered like a fading flower." And 
Clarke, striking through the metaphor to the founda- 



THE AMARANTHINE CROWN. 297 



tion idea, affirms the promise to be, " an eternal 
nearness and intimacy with the ineffably glorious 
God." 

Milton, describing the lofty ceremonial of celestial 
worship, says : 

"Lowly reverent 
Toward either throne they bow, and to the ground 
With solemn adoration down they cast 
Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold ; 
Immortal amarant ; a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast oy the tree of life, 
Began to bloom." 

This amaranthine crown is elsewhere in the Script- 
ures represented as a crown of righteousness, a crown 
of life, and an incorruptible crown. We read also of 
the holy crown, the beautiful crown, the crown of the 
anointing oil, the royal crown, and the crown of pure 
gold. All these expressions indicate the exaltations, 
the privileges, the endowments, and the dignities 
which belong to Christian character and experience, 
and which are to compose the reward and glory of 
the saints in everlasting life. 

The crown of pride and the corruptible crown de- 
scribe, at once, both the splendor and the mockery of 
worldly hopes. The wicked exalteth himself, and 
glories in his possessions and distinctions ; but 
his honors fall away from him, not as the stars 
from heaven, but as leaves from garlands of dead 
flowers. 

There are hardly sadder words in the inspired 
record than these : " Then came Jesus forth, wearing 
the crown of thorns, and the purple robe." And yet 
in the vision of the apostle we see our blessed Lord, 
not only " made a little lower than the angels for the 



298 SHOUT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



suffering of death," but also delivered, exalted, trium- 
phant, and " crowned with glory and honor." The 
crown of thorns was probably not so much intended 
to inflict pain as to express contempt. It was, like 
the purple robe, an insult and mockery of his royal 
authority. Doubtless some flexible thorny shrub was 
used, which resembled the rich dark green of the 
triumphal ivy, and yet which was manifestly some- 
thing else, thus giving pungency to the ironical pur- 
pose. It was part of the ignominy and shame to 
which Jesus was subjected w T hen he offered himself 
a sacrifice for our redemption and immortality. 

"See, from his bead, his hands, his feet, 
Sorrow and love flow mingled down : 

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?" 

But when heaven was opened to the far-reaching 
gaze of the Revelator, he saw One whose eyes were 
as a flame jof fire, who had an incomprehensible 
nature, who " was clothed in a vesture dipped in 
blood, and his name is called, The Word of God." 
And concerning this exalted and glorious Being he 
makes this declaration : " On his head were many 
crowns." The Greek is many diadems ; and it cer- 
tainly indicates royal authority, absolute sovereignty, 
extended dominion, and many triumphs and posses- 
sions. Ptolemy Philometer wore two diadems, one 
for Europe and one for Asia. During the Middle 
Ages the Emperors of Germany received three 
crowns — that of Germany, which was of silver, and 
assumed at Aix-la-Chapelle ; the crown of iron, which 
had formerly been peculiar to the Lombard kings, 



THE AMARANTHINE GROWN. 



299 



and was assumed at Pavia ; and the imperial crown, 
which was received at Rome, and was surmounted 
by a miter, similar to that of the bishops, and indi- 
cated, perhaps, some measure of ecclesiastical author- 
ity. The Popes have for many centuries worn a 
triple crown, which is designed to signify their eccle- 
siastical, civil, and judicial supremacy. The three 
crowns of the papal tiara mark accessions of power 
at different periods. The first corona was added to 
the miter by Alexander III., in n 59; the second, 
by Boniface VIII., in 1203, and the third, by Urban 
V., in 1362. So on the victorious brow of the Son 
of God rest many crowns, evidences of his many 
conquests over sin, death, and hell, of his world-wide 
dominion, and of his supremacy over all powers and 
hierarchies on earth or in heaven. The crown of 
thorns and the scarlet robe were intended to carica- 
ture his royalty, and insult his authority ; but the 
many diadems which he wears in glory indicate such 
position, power, and sovereignty as bewilder all 
human or angelic thought. 

" The Head that once was crown'd with thorns 

Is crown 'd with glory now ; 
A rfcyal diadem adorns 

The mighty Victor's brow. 

"The highest place that heaven affords 

Is to our Jesus given ; 
The King of kings, the Lord of lords, 

He reigns o'er earth and heaven." 

And though the wor % d for crown, and not the word 
for diadem, occurs in Rev. ii, 10 : " Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life ; " 



300 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 



yet Trench argues, with great force, that not the gar- 
land of victory, but the diadem of royalty, is here 
promised to those who dare and endure the worst 
which evil men can inflict, even death itself; and 
that so our Lord associates his suffering saints with 
himself, gathering them to his bosom, and exalting 
them to an everlasting dominion. 

Let us not faint, then, in our Christian endeavors. 
What self-denials, what labors, what persistent strug- 
gles, mark the course of worldly men ! " They do 
it to obtain a corruptible crown ; but we an incor- 
ruptible/' Business success, rewards of ambition, 
pleasure, and power, are, at the best, insecure and 
perishable possessions. How poor in comparison 
with the good man's riches in glory ! What a 
mere bauble the most resplendent of earthly diadems 
when contrasted with the crown of amaranth and 
gold which sparkles on the brow of glorified saints ! 
The laurel and the ivy wreath will perish, and the 
royal fillet of diamonds and pearls will turn to dust ; 
but 

" The starry crown 

That glitters through the skies," 

will never glitter less, but will shine, witl| the beauty 
of the morning star, forever. Heed, therefore, the 
admonition which Jesus himself has uttered, and "hold 
fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy 
crown." And " think it not strange concerning the 
fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange 
thing happened unto you ; " for " blessed is the man 
that endureth temptation; " arid " when he is tried " — 
tested, proved — "he shall receive the crown of life " — 
the amaranthine crown of glory. 



THE AMARANTHINE CROWX. 



In Greenwood cemetery, on the headstone which 
marks the resting-place of a deceased maiden, 
are inscribed the beautiful words of the Song of 
Songs : " Until the day break, and the shadows flee 
away." There is something touching and tearful in 
the tenderness, the hope, and the promise which the 
words suggest. Beyond the night and darkness of 
the grave, the yearning heart, with prophetic instinct, 
looks and longs for the breaking of a cloudless 
day. And the thicker the darkness gathers around 
life's pathway, the more intense and constant the 
sighing of the soul for the splendors of that immor- 
tal morn, when all the shadows shall forever flee 
away. 

Men live by hope. They bear the crushing bur- 
den of their sorrows, and their hearts do not break, 
because of their expectations of a better life. Out 
of this darkness, they say, we shall come into the 
light ; the shadows will disperse, the heavens will 
glow, and, instead of sighing and tears, we shall ob- 
tain joy and gladness. And the hope itself illumines, 
the expectation brings realization, and what we covet 
we already, in some measure, possess. 

There are those who say, " We would serve God 
for what religion affords us even in this present time, 
if it brought us no promise of a life beyond the grave." 
But this is a sort of impossible supposition, and, with- 
al, a deceptive and fallacious statement ; for what 
would Christian experience be without the hope of im- 
mortality ? Take out of the Gospel the fact of the res- 
urrection of Jesus, and the promise of our own resur- 
rection which it involves, and what would remain ? It 
would be like a light-house with no flame kindled on 



302 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION 

its summit. There would be no glad radiance for 
life's dark, troubled sea. The very marrow of the 
Gospel is in Christ's words, " He that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life." Yes, he hath it. He has 
apprehended it. His hungry heart already feeds on 
the heavenly manna, and the living waters spring up 
in his soul. It is a conscious revelation of a recon- 
ciled God, and that is heaven. " We have also," says 
Saint Peter, " a more sure word of prophecy, where- 
unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light 
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and 
the Day Star arise in your hearts." It is a memorable 
hour when the day dawns in the heart, and when 
" the bright and Morning Star" gleams out amid the 
shadows and dispels the gloom ; and Jesus is thus 
called not only because he brings light to our dark- 
ness, but also because he is the harbinger and herald 
of a bright, immortal day. After the Morning Star 
comes the sunburst of heavenly light and glory. 

The whole Christian life is a journey from dark- 
ness to light. "The way of the wicked is as dark- 
ness ; they know not at what they stumble." And, 
what is worse, their foolish heart is so darkened, and 
so great is their ignorance, alienation, and blindness, 
that they will not come to the light lest their deeds 
should be reproved. " And this is the condemna- 
tion " — the occasion, the justification, and the con- 
summation of it — " that light is come into the world, 
and men loved darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds were evil." Darkness is even personified 
by the apostle as a power, a terrible tyrant, from whom 
we need to be delivered, and from whose dreary do- 
main we must be translated into the kingdom of 



THE AMARANTHINE CROWN. 



303 



God's dear Son ; because, as Christians, " we are the 
children of light, and the children of the day ; we are 
not of the night nor of darkness." 

Jesus is the true Lucifer — the true light-bringer, 
the awakener of hope and the source of inspiration. 
" I am," he exclaims, " the light of the world ; he 
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but 
shall have the light of life." And thus is fulfilled 
the prophetic word of the Psalmist : " Light is sown 
for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in 
heart." The very object of the Gospel and of its 
dispensation in the world is to open the eyes which 
are blinded by transgression, and to turn the per- 
verse and benighted from darkness to light, and to 
bring them from the power of Satan unto God. And 
Christians are made a chosen generation, a royal 
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, in order 
that they may show forth the praises of Him who 
has called them out of darkness into his marvelous 
light. 

The heritage of the impenitent, who love darkness, 
shall be darkness : " They shall be driven from light 
into darkness, and chased out of the world." Those 
who have clung to the bondage of corruption shall 
be delivered " into chains of darkness," and, like 
the angels who kept not their first estate, " reserved 
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judg- 
ment of the great day." To those who have been 
carried hither and thither by the tempests of appe- 
tite and passion, " the mist of darkness is reserved 
forever." Those who-have rejected the offers of the 
Gospel, and resisted the rule and dominion of Jesus 
Christ, and hated and spurned the light and glory of 



304 SHOBT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 



his presence, shall gnaw their tongues for pain in a 
kingdom which is "full of darkness," where night 
reigns, and terror and death. The unspeakably awful 
doom of the ungodly is that they shall be filled with 
their own ways, and shall have the things which 
they have chosen. There is something inconceiv- 
ably terrible in this giving up of the sinner, by divine 
judicial deprivation and visitation, to himself, to the 
darkness and death which he has blindly and madly 
chosen ! And yet how manifestly just such retri- 
bution ! 

On the other hand, the pathway of the righteous 
is one which shineth increasingly, even to the fullness 
and splendor of a perfect day. He has enlarging 
light, and knowledge, and glory of the divine Pres- 
ence, at every step of his progress in the King's high- 
way of holiness, to the very gates of the New Jeru- 
salem. It is true that " the darkness which is death " 
will fall, like a shadow, across his path ; but it is also 
true that his Saviour, Jesus Christ, " hath abolished 
death " — overcome, counterworked death — " and hath 
brought life and immortality to light through the 
Gospel." Into this region, on which the shadow of 
death has fallen, the Christian must come, but a 
cheering light will radiate his path from the highest 
heaven. "O," exclaims Rutherford, addressing the 
trembling saint, "when Christ and you shall meet 
about the utmost boundary of time and the entry into 
eternity, you shall see heaven in his face at the first 
look, and salvation and glory sitting on his counte- 
nance and betwixt his eyes." The glory of God and 
the Lamb not only lightens the Celestial City, but also 
the steps of the saints as they journey thitherward. 



THE AMARANTHINE CM OWN. 



305 



Therefore, Christian, be of good cheer. " The 
night is far spent, the day is at hand." The night 
has been made beautiful and resplendent by the 
bright stars of faith and hope and promise, which 
have trooped up in our heavens ; but how incom- 
parably glorious must be the splendors of that immor- 
tal day! Your salvation is nearer than when you 
first believed. You have come some distance on your 
journey. Life's night will soon be passed, and the 
day of eternity will dawn. The last shadow will flee 
away, and the pure, undimmed light of heaven will 
be your portion forever. 

Long may seem .the way, and dark, and many and 

bitter the trials to be experienced, and fierce and 

terrible the conflicts with the prince of evil powers ; 

but all will be forgotten, or remembered only to 

heighten present joy, if, at the last, you are enabled to 

exclaim, like the great apostle to the Gentiles : " I 

have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 

have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for 

me" — for me! — " a crown of righteousness, which the 

Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me " — me ! — " at 

that day." And " in that day," in a higher sense than 

ever before, " shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown 

of glory, and for a diadem of beauty," to all who 

have put their trust in him, and taken him for their 

friend and portion. " What is to be refused," says 

Archbishop Leighton, " in the way to this crown ? 

All labor is sweet for it. And what is there here to 

be desired to detain our hearts that we should not 

most willingly let go, to rest from our labors, and 

receive our crown ? Was ever any king sad to think 

that the day of his coronation drew nigh ? And 

20 



306 SHORT SERMONS ON CONSECRATION. 

then there will be no envy, no jealousies ; all will be 
kings, each with his crown, each rejoicing in the 
glory of the others, and all in His who that day shall 
be all in all." 

And when, through grace, our course is run, 
The battle fought, the vict'ry won, 
Then crowns unfading we shall wear, 
The glory of thy kingdom share, 
With thee, our glorious Leader, there, 
In endless day. 

Then, in thy presence, heavenly King, 
In loftier strains thy praise we'll sing, 
When with the blood-bought hosts we meet, 
Triumphant there, in bliss complete, 
And cast our crowns before thy feet 
In endless day. 



THE END. 




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